


The Historian's Assistant

by potsticker1234



Category: AC Odyssey - Fandom, Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College AU, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Kyssandra - Freeform, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, coffee shop AU, frat party shenanigans, kassandra is a track athlete, shameless flirting, the one in which kassandra is a TA and kyra works at a local cafe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-10-26 19:39:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17752208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potsticker1234/pseuds/potsticker1234
Summary: Your time at college can be some of the most formative years of your life. They can also be filled with unnecessary stress, fortunately for Kyra, she is in for the time of her life when she meets the most attractive girl in the world at her coffee shop. Will their paths cross more than once? Will they be able to get past the mutual pining?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because we all needed a break from the angst of the main game. The Odyssey crew deserves to be happy for once.

The sound of the coffee machine and happy customers chatting filled the store front. A sweet aroma of coffee and cream wafted through the air. Kyra poured the exact measurements for a caramel macchiato before going back to the register. She barely looked up from the computer as she repeated her mantra in the most customer friendly voice she could muster, “Welcome to Ferryman Brewers, what can I get started for you?”

“I would like a large vanilla latte with eight shots of espresso,”

Kyra nearly dropped her marker when she heard the order. _Who the hell orders that many shots after 9am_ , she thought. 

She looked up at the girl in front of her and was equally as stunned by her appearance. The girl was tall and quite fit, her hair fell loosely to the side in a braid and her eyes, oh god those eyes— _Kyra you’re staring_ , she thought to herself.

She came back to reality as she repeated the order and wrote it down on the cup. “May I have your name?” _In marriage,_ she thought.

“Kassandra,” the girl responded and Kyra could barely keep her focus over those stunning brown eyes. She wrote the name down and spent extra time to use her best handwriting. “Well, Kassandra, your total will be $3.47,” she liked the way her name rolled off her tongue.

Kassandra reached for her wallet and Kyra couldn’t help but notice how big her arms were. She handed her the money and her brain short circuited when their hands touched. Kyra cleared her throat and opened the register, “Right, $1.53 is your change,” she handed the money back to the beautiful girl and made a conscious effort to not touch her hands for an eternity this time, “Your drink will be out shortly, have a great day.”

“It’s better now that I’ve seen you,” said the girl causing Kyra to have yet another brain freeze.

Kyra helped the other customers in line, but they weren’t nearly as interesting as the first one. She scribbled down their orders and couldn’t help but watch the door for Kassandra. She saw her take her extremely strong coffee and walk out the door. Kyra hoped it would not be the last time they saw each other.

The rest of Kyra’s day was spent daydreaming about the beautiful girl she met at work. She walked into her biology class and sat by her long-time childhood friend Thaletas. He greeted her and noticed the extra spring in her step. Thaletas smirked, he has known her since they were both 6 years old, he knew exactly why she was so cheery today.

“Another hot customer at work?” he teased.

She slapped him with her notebook, “Shut up, not in class!” She tried to meet his eyes but couldn’t, she was not about to let her best friend pressure her into gushing about the cafe cutie. His eyes grew bigger and he simply raised his eyebrows and suddenly Kyra couldn’t help but go on and on about her once she started,

“Oh my god, Thaletas, she is the fucking hottest girl I have ever seen in my entire life. Do I tend to say that about any woman that gives me the time of day? Yes. Am I being serious this time, yes.” Thaletas laughed at her but allowed her to go on, he loved hearing about her instantaneous crushes.

“She’s got brown eyes that feel like a warm summer day when she looks at you, her hair is impossibly perfect, and her arms, Thaletas, her arms…” she drawled on about Kassandra for a good five minutes before they had to do actual biology work.

Thaletas flipped his notebook open to sketch something about DNA and genetics but he knew that this would not be the last he would hear about the cafe cutie. He peaked over at Kyra’s own notebook and noticed her doodling what appeared to be said cafe cutie. _This girl is in over her head_ , he thought to himself. He smiled, he sincerely hoped that everything would work out in her favor; but in the moment, he hoped Kyra would be somewhat focused on the homework.

The lecture ended as fast as it started and Kyra soon realized she had spent the entire class period drawing random pictures of Kassandra in her notebook. She shut the book and shoved it into her book bag when she noticed Thaletas laughing at it.

The pair packed up their things and exited the lecture hall. She accompanied him to his next class, history of military science, and parted ways with him. From there, she made her way to the main library to do some research for an upcoming biology project.

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Kyra noticed she had spent 4 hours in the library. She left to find her car in the parking lot and observed how quiet the campus was. It was strange to see it this empty, she thought. She made it to the crosswalk when she noticed a runner on the opposite side of the street. The runner stopped for a moment waiting for the light to change and she noticed it was the girl from the cafe, Kassandra, wearing a sports bra and running shorts covered in a fine sheen of sweat. She had earbuds in and didn’t seem to notice the outside world, to which Kyra was grateful, she didn’t want to be caught staring at her again.

The light changed and Kassandra crossed the street and Kyra couldn’t help but watch as her abs flexed with every step. Surely this woman was sculpted by the heavens.

She finally made it to her car and drove home to her shabby one bedroom apartment. The college life was expensive but she was determined to do anything to stay out of the dorms. She lived on campus during her freshman year and decided that once was more than enough.

Her apartment door clicked, she threw her bag down next to the kitchen counter and immediately put on sweatpants. She cooked some instant ramen and curled up on the couch to watch a cheesy rom-com in an attempt to stop herself from obsessing over her new found interest of the day.

Her phone chirped half way through the movie and she groaned when she saw her best friend’s name pop up on the screen. She opened her phone to read his text.

_Thaletas: Have you found a way to seduce her yet ;)_

_Kyra: I just met her, calm down fuckboy_

_Thaletas: Just wondering cause my bro Stentor said she’s a single_

Kyra just about dropped her phone in her noodles when she read his text. She didn’t believe him at first, there was no way someone that gorgeous was single. It was impossible, no, it was illegal.

_Kyra: Great, so when are you gonna ask her out for me? :)_

Thaletas didn’t reply after that, he was probably too irritated with her inability to act. She unpaused the movie and smiled to herself feeling a little happier than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr @potsticker1234 for more updates on the college au and other Odyssey content!


	2. Chapter 2

The alarm clock rang sharply at 5 in the morning and a sleepy Kassandra rolled over to hit the off button. She sat up in her bed and stretched out her arms. She hopped out of bed and put on running shorts and a long sleeve shirt with a Spartan helmet on it, her college’s mascot. Her running shoes had to be around here somewhere. She left her apartment a few minutes later and headed outside to get her morning run in before the day truly started.

The air rushed past her ears as she ran through the nearby park. There was no one on the sidewalk and Kassandra revelled in the silence of the city. Though she had lived in the city for a few years, she had never loved it more than during her early morning runs when the streets were empty and the sun was still asleep.

She ran on for a few more miles before heading home. It would soon be time for her first class of the day and she needed to get ready. She doubted her students would appreciate a gross, sweaty teacher’s assistant.

She took a quick shower and dressed a little more formal than usual since it was the midterm. She dressed herself in a red button up shirt and rolled the sleeves up to half past her forearm and donned a pair of black pants. She was a strong believer in the logic “dress well, do well.”

Kassandra looked at the clock on the classroom wall, the minute hand swept over the 12 and it was time to start class. There were more students in the room than normal, being it was the day before the midterm and she was holding a review session for Professor Herodotos. She had always enjoyed history, but this time period held a special place in her heart, the Peloponnesian War. Kassandra was of Greek descent and could even trace her ancestry back to King Leonidas of Sparta. She was especially excited about teaching over this subject and her students could tell.

Herodotos had given her a study guide to hand out to the students and told her to “go wild” with the content, they both shared a special liking over Greek history. She started off the class by handing out the study guide and asking if the students had any questions.

“What happened to Atlantis?” asked an eager freshman girl. Some of the students laughed at her question, but Kassandra was quick to shut them up.

“Interesting question, and a good one too,” she said, looking up at the back row from which the snickering was coming from, “The lost city of Atlantis is thought to have been on the island of Thera in ancient times. Thera was once a full island until the volcano exploded and created a caldera. Theories suggest that Atlantis was sunk during the explosion and is currently sitting at the bottom of the ocean near modern day Santorini.”

The freshman girl looked fascinated and was quite happy that her question was answered seriously instead of being laughed off. Kassandra smiled at her and again emphasized that she had had a good question.

Kassandra left the rest of the class period up for open discussion and questions about the midterm. Students entered and left as they pleased while she went over the course material.

Kassandra’s younger step brother, Stentor, walked into the study hall 10 minutes prior to the end of class and Kassandra rolled her eyes. He was going to fail this test and she was not going to feel bad about it.

“Kass, you’ve got to help me, I don’t even know what the Battle of Amphibian is,” he said as he frantically waved the study guide around in the air.

“You mean the Battle of Amphipolis, dear _brother_ ,” she only used that term when she was annoyed with him because she knew it irritated him. He gritted his teeth.

“Look, I’m desperate, do you think you could just, you know, flub the gradebook a little bit?”

She looked at him with contempt, “Stentor I should just report you to Herodotos now! You are not going to fail this test, especially with me around.”

He looked defeated and tapped his foot on the ground, “Then can you help me study?”

She waved him off as another student asked her for help with one of the many maps of the Greek world. Stentor huffed in frustration as he took a seat near the back to wait for the class period to end.

Once all her students left, Kassandra took pity upon her little brother and agreed to help him out during their lunch break. She may or may not have had an ulterior motive; he wanted to grab lunch at the Ferryman Brewers.

The bell over the door frame jingled as they walked into the cafe. Kassandra looked around for the cute barista that had helped her last time. She didn’t see her behind the counter and Kassandra tried to pretend she wasn’t a little bit sad.

Stentor ordered a croissant and breakfast sandwich as Kassandra looked at the pictures on the back wall. The wall was covered with paintings depicting many famous characters from Greek mythology. She recognized Herakles, the Golden Fleece, and Mt. Olympos among many other pictures. But the most intriguing picture by far was the painting of Cerberus, the three headed guard dog of the underworld. She stepped closer to take a better look at it, she revelled in the remarkable detail and vividness of it all. It looked as if he could have almost lunged out of the painting.

“Don’t worry, he won’t bite,” came a voice from behind her. She turned around to see the barista from the other day.

“This place lives up to its name I suppose,” said Kassandra. She tried to hide her happiness upon seeing the cute barista. She was definitely cute, her dark hair fell gracefully around her shoulders and her eyes sparkled even in the dim light of the cafe.

“The owner is a bit of a mythology fanatic,”

Kassandra was about to ask her for her name when the man behind the register did it for her. “Kyra, I need your help ringing up a gift card.”

She gave Kassandra an apologetic look before leaving to help her fellow coworker.

 _Kyra_ , she thought, _what a nice name. Kyra, Kyra, Kyra_. She was definitely going to commit that name to memory.

She sat down at a window side table with Stentor after ordering a coffee and chicken wrap for herself. He flung open his textbook and sporadically flipped to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War chapter. She chose to ignore the fact that he was getting crumbs all over his book.

After spending a good amount of time going over the chapter with him, she realized that this boy was utterly helpless and wanted to tell him that his best bet was to sacrifice something to Zeus or else watch his grade be metaphorically thrown off of Mt. Taygetos. She opted for a more optimistic comment, since he probably would not have understood that reference, “Just remember, it’s only one test. You will be fine.”

“No, Kassandra, if I don’t pass this test, pater will have my head!”

Stentor loved being over dramatic about their father, Nikolaos. Sure he was a tough father, but this was a little over the top. Kassandra rolled her eyes and put her hands up in defense, “You asked me for help, malaka!”

“Don’t use that word on me. Just because I barely pay attention to you and the professor when you teach history class, doesn’t mean I don’t know an insult when I hear one,” he crossed his arms and stuck out his lip like a pouty toddler.

Kassandra suppressed a laugh before informing him that he was too dramatic. He decided to ignore her and dove back into his history reading. She scrolled through her emails on her phone and had the inescapable feeling that she was being watched. She glanced up from her phone in time to catch the cute barista, Kyra, looking her way. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Kassandra looked back down at her phone and tried to hide the smile that was on her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyra smiling too.


	3. Chapter 3

The library was far less full than it had been a few days ago. The midterms were finally over and the student body let out a collective sigh of relief. Kyra sat down at a corner table and pulled out her notebook. She was in the middle of sketching the details for her and Thaletas’s biology project when she heard the unmistakable snap of a soda can being opened. She opted to ignore it and looked back down at her book.

“You fuckface, you cannot have beer in the library!” said a voice from around the corner.

“I’m coping with my exam grades since you failed to help me!” replied the other voice.

The banter went on for quite some time and Kyra grew more and more irritated by the minute. The voices finally subsided and Kyra hoped that she could now study in silence. The two voices picked up their chatter again and Kyra could feel a vein bulging in her temple.

The noise escalated to the point where Kyra felt the need to go “gently” remind these people that this was a fucking library. She walked over to the source of the ruckus and was practicing the lecture in her head when she saw none other than Kassandra sitting at the window table. 

Kassandra’s brow was furled as she argued with the boy over his history grade. They were both interrupted when Kyra said, “You do know that this is a library, don’t you.” 

“Ah, Kyra,” said Kassandra and she tried with great difficulty not to focus on how nice her name sounded coming from Kassandra’s mouth, “I apologize for the disturbance. I was just trying to remind my little shitface of a brother that he cannot bribe his way through his history class.”

“Kyra, you’re Thaletas’s friend right? Help me out here and tell Kassandra it’s her duty as my older sister and history TA to let me pass the class!” he said.

Kyra looked between the two of them and tried to wrap her head around what was happening. She recognized the boy as Stentor, he and Thaletas were buddies in high school, he had always convinced Thaletas to do dumb things. Seems like he hadn’t changed much. 

So Stentor and Kassandra were siblings? It didn’t make sense in her mind, though Thaletas hung out with him frequently, he never mentioned Stentor having any siblings.   
  
“I’m going to let you two sort this out yourselves…” she said, “I’m going back to my table, sorry I interrupted your, um, highly intelligent conversation.”

She turned around to head back to her study spot when Kassandra spoke up again, “Would you mind if I joined you? I won’t bother you, I would prefer to sit with you rather than this.” She gestured at the mess that was Stentor.

Kyra nodded her head and led her back to the table; she could feel Kassandra’s eyes watching her walk and if she said it wasn’t slightly hot, she’d be a liar.   

Kassandra set her bag down and sat across from Kyra, “I am really sorry for causing a problem.”

Kyra saw the true look of second hand embarrassment in her eyes, “Oh it’s fine really. You weren’t being that loud. He sounds like he’s a handful.”

“Stentor makes me want to rip my hair out but other than that, he’s harmless. That’s what step siblings are for, I suppose.”

She gave Kyra a small grin and pulled out her math book. They sat in silence as they both worked on their homework. Kyra subtly stole glances at the history TA and enjoyed the way her collarbones poked out from underneath her dress shirt. That girl could rock a button up, and she knew it.

Half an hour had passed and Kyra began to notice a frazzled look that was growing on the girl’s face. She peered down at the book and saw a flurry of equations and numbers mixed with letters. Kassandra was writing and erasing and writing and erasing in frustration. She managed to poke a hole through the paper because she was pressing down so hard.

“Need some help there?” Kyra said shyly.

Kassandra looked up from her messy graph paper and huffed, “Math really is not my strong suit. Pythagoras would be rolling in his grave right now.”

“Pythagoras? The man with the triangles? What does that have to do with anything?”

Kassandra sighed, “Supposedly I am a long lost descendant of Pythagoras but his wisdom got lost in the bloodline.”

The gears started to turn in Kyra’s mind, _she’s Stentor’s older sister, Stentor is Thaletas’s friend, Thaletas said Stentor said she was single_ , suddenly she blurted out, “I could help you with math! I’m really into calculus and biology and all that, I mean if you wanted help that is. I don’t mean to impose that you need help, I just thought that you would like that, I mean you’re very clearly capable of learning the material on your own. Oh god I’ll stop talking now.”

Kassandra smiled at her and it caused her cheeks to grow warm. She ripped off a piece of paper and handed it to Kyra, “I’d like that. Write your number down and I’ll be sure to make it worth your while.” 

Kyra scribbled down her number and gave it back to the girl, her cheeks grew even warmer than before. Their hands touched when they both met in the middle for the slip of paper and Kassandra took the opportunity to comment on Kyra’s expression, “You look really cute when you’re all flustered.”

If Kyra wasn’t a bright shade of red before, she was now. The rest of the events were a blur in her mind. Something about Kassandra needing to go leave for a workout and that she would text her about math homework later. Her thoughts were incoherent for the rest of the day.

Kyra returned home for the night and slopped her bag onto its rightful place on the kitchen floor. She threw her phone on the couch and started preparing dinner. Half way through the cooking process, she heard her phone chirp from the living room. She just about dove over the coffee table to reach her phone in time, she was expecting a text from a very pretty person.

To her disappointment it was just Thaletas. He had texted her saying that he was at the entrance of her apartment complex and wanted to be let in. He coaxed her with the fact that he brought her ice cream and had new project ideas to discuss.

She buzzed him in and let him into the apartment, she was used to him dropping by unexpectedly, they used to do this all the time when they were 9 even though they lived across the street from each other.

They sat on the couch and ate chocolate chip mint ice cream as she regaled her encounter with Kassandra in the library, “How come you and Stentor never told me he had a smoking hot step sister!”

“Because I didn’t know he had one until last year. Stentor said that he was minding his own business one day and  two muscular, mercenary looking people knocked on his door demanding to see his father and claiming that they were his long lost children.”

Kyra laughed and flicked a chocolate chip at him, “I don’t know if I trust Stentor’s credibility, he was trying to smuggle alcohol into the library. You really dodged a bullet with him.”

“He’s not that bad, Kyra. And besides, younger me thought he was cute okay?” he laughed back at her.

She considered asking him if he knew anything about Kassandra’s relationship status and whether or not Stentor’s words could be trusted. She opted to leave it left unsaid since he was really here for academic work. They spent the rest of the night chugging away at the project that was due in a week.

She woke up to the feeling of Thaletas shaking her, she was surrounded by a ring of textbooks and posterboard. He handed her her phone and said that she had a text from an unknown number; she just about deafened him with her scream.

“Thaletas, it’s the hottie from the cafe. Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening to me, it’s my moment.”

He stared at her for a second, “Did she confess her undying love for you in the form of a Sappho poem?”

“She might as well have, take a look at this,” she held the phone so close to his face he had to push it back a few inches. It read,

_Hey this is Kassandra, you know, the loud one from the library. I was wondering if we could meet to go over some math homework soon. I really could use your help ;)_

Thaletas began typing on her phone, “‘Sounds, great sexy babe, I can’t wait to help you in private xoxo,’ send text!”

Kyra ripped the phone from his hands and looked at it with horror. It was too late, the damage had been done, he had sent the text, “I cannot believe you, you ignorant slut! Now she’s never going to talk to me.”

Thaletas was given the silent treatment for the rest of the night until Kyra’s phone went off again. She read the text out loud to him, “She just sent a kissy face and said ‘me too,’ what does this mean?”

“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” he said indignantly and she shot him another nasty look, “Okay, I’m just teasing you. I will do everything in my power to get my best friend with this girl by the end of the week, tops!”

She groaned and prayed to whatever cosmic deity that was out there that they would go easy on her and would give her a little luck.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time to meet everyone's favorite man, Brasidas :)

The last student left Kassandra’s classroom as the section came to an end. She erased the markings on the board and tidied up the room, Kyra would be arriving shortly. She thought that maybe this was a little bit of a roundabout way to spend time with the girl from the cafe, she tried not to overthink things, she really did need the help on the math. She cursed her Greek ancestry for forgetting to pass down the mathematical geniusness to her.

She heard a knock at her door and bid the girl to come in. She watched as Kyra entered the room with her bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a tee shirt with the university’s Spartan mascot on it and a pair of leggings. Her dark hair was thrown up into a messy bun; her look was simple, but Kassandra was absolutely enamored by it.

“Well don’t you look like a ‘sexy babe.’”

Kyra turned as red as the Spartan on her shirt, “I am so sorry, that was Thaletas last night, he took my phone and sent you that god awful text.”

A flicker of jealousy danced across Kassandra’s eyes, _who the fuck is this Thaletas guy_ , “Oh I see, he is a very lucky man…”

She must have been able to read her thoughts and let out a small laugh, “It’s not like that, he’s my best friend. We grew up in the same neighborhood and have gone to the same school since elementary school. People mistake us for more than friends, but I can assure you, I don’t like him like that. He’s not really my type.”

“And what is your type?”

“I guess you’ll just have to find out, Kassandra.”

She smirked at Kyra’s words and considered how much more fun it would be to explore that with her than work on equations all day, but she did ask her here for one purpose alone. She invited Kyra to pull up a chair and look over the problems with her. Kyra’s eyes lit up with glee as she wasted no time in explaining the intricacies of math to her. What she was saying, Kassandra wasn’t sure, but she did know that Kyra was passionate about numbers and she found it endearing.

After she had gushed about the importance of differential equations in the real world, she gave Kassandra some time to try the problems on her own while she worked on her own never ending biology homework. Kassandra stared at the textbook and still was not understanding it. She beckoned Kyra over to come bail her out.

Kyra leaned a little too close over her shoulder as she placed her finger on the page to look at the problem. She began to explain it to Kassandra but she was not listening, she was too busy trying not to focus on how good the girl next to her smelled.   
  
She tapped her pencil on the paper and it brought Kassandra back to her senses, “And just like that the problem is solved!”

Kassandra glanced down at her watch, it was almost 6 o’clock and she had to be somewhere, “I appreciate the help Kyra, but I’m afraid I must cut our time short. I promised a friend I would go work out with him in half an hour.”

Kyra turned around and quickly realized how close their faces were, she gave Kassandra a flirtatious look, “Very well, but I think you owe me for the help.”

Kassandra tilted her head up to meet her eyes, “Don’t worry I will.”

A shiver ran down Kyra’s spine.

They both packed up their bags and headed for the door. Kassandra opened it for her and paused, “Would you like to continue this later?”

For a brief moment, Kyra wondered what she was referring to, the math homework or the unabashed flirting. “Come see me at the coffee shop, Kass. You’re going to need all the help you can get.” The girl patted her on the shoulder and walked down the hallway with a newfound confidence in her step.

Kassandra shut the door behind her and breathed out a long breath, she would be sure to pay frequent visits to the cute girl at the cafe.

The gym smelled and looked like the underworld itself, what with its dim lighting and questionable patrons, but Kassandra wouldn’t want it any other way. She always had a great love of this gym. It had been the only unchanging thing in her life since she moved to the city to start college. She remembered back to her first year attending the university and the feeling of not quite knowing her place in the grand scheme of things. She had just moved to the United States from Greece because she was seeking out her father, Nikolaos. They had lived together as a happy family in Greece until her little brother, Alexios, was kidnapped by a human trafficking ring called the Cartel of Kosmos. Nikolaos’s indecision to act led their mother, Myrrine, to leave him. Nikolaos moved to the states where he adopted a new son, Stentor, while Myrrine and Kassandra stayed in Greece to find Alexios.

The journey took years but they finally found Alexios nine years later. He had been indoctrinated with all sorts of nonsense that the cartel had gotten him to believe. According to Alexios, they wanted him to become their long arm of the law. He was to exact more kidnappings in the way they had taken him so many years ago. When his family was able to rescue him, they all agreed that he would be safer on the other side of the world. The three of them moved to the United States and sought out Nikolaos. It was a tough road to reconciliation, but the family was whole again once more. They were now finally free to live a normal life.

Kassandra tightened her boxing gloves and threw a few punches at the hanging bag in front of her. Her workout partner, Brasidas, was practicing on a speed bag beside her. The sound of drilling hands filled the air as they focused on their speed and power.

Kassandra eventually stopped to change out of her gloves for sparring mitts and motioned at Brasidas to have a go at her. He swung a powerful cross right at her face and she countered it with some difficulty. He threw a quick succession of punches and noticed that she wasn’t as focused as usual.

He ignored it and mentioned the day’s adventures, “I ran into your weird uncle Barnabas at the store today.”

“That’s great,” she said flatly.

“He was buying all the liquor off the shelf, I had a hard time finding some for the house.”

Nothing.

“I don’t think you heard me, he was dressed up as a purple dinosaur,” he narrowed his eyes at her. She just blocked his punches like it was second nature and stared off into space. He took the opportunity to send an especially sturdy punch that jolted her.

“Watch it, this isn’t a street fight,” she said now that she was aware of her surroundings again.

“Sorry, you just seem a little off your A game, Kassandra.”

She looked at him and shook her head, “Just a little tired I guess.”

He tapped her elbow and shoulder to remind her to keep her stance tight, “I’ve seen you take on three boxers and an MMA champion when you were ‘tired’ with a sprained wrist, what’s gotten into you?”

She swiped lazily at him with her left hand to which he rolled swiftly, “A girl, that’s what. She’s poisoned my mind with her beautiful eyes and cute little smile, I can’t stop thinking about her!”

“Don’t tell me it’s that old librarian, Auxesia, again!”

She blocked one of his powerful hooks, “Do I strike you as someone who is into cougars, Brasidas?”

“Well, you’re not supposed to be striking,” he aimed an overhand at her chest, “I am!”

She wanted to knock his teeth out for that horrendous joke.

After a few more punches and the silent treatment from Kassandra, a wonderful idea popped into his head, “Why don’t you invite this girl to a party! The Lambdas are throwing a big one this weekend, you won’t want to miss it.”

She considered his idea for a moment. The Lambdas were an extremely obtuse group of frat boys that ran around campus shouting “For Sparta!” They did however, know how to throw one hell of a party. Brasidas joined them a couple years back, but this being his senior year, dialed down the party life in favor of jump starting his career as a general contractor. He looked more like someone who should be tearing down houses not building them, but he really loved to build things. He would be at the party, though, if Kassandra decided to take him up on his offer.

“Fine, but I am not holding your hair back if you start throwing up in the middle of the pool.”

He let out a hearty laugh, “That was one time! It was hot in the house and the water was right there, were you expecting me to die from heat stroke? Anyways, I can’t wait to meet your new girlfriend,” he winked at her.

She tossed a water bottle at him and ignored his last comment, _she isn’t my girlfriend, yet_.

The next few days flew by as Kassandra realized she hadn’t had any decent sleep since last week. She spent long days at school helping students with their thesis papers for Herodotos’s class as well as focusing on her own work. At night she was either grading papers for said history class or working out to keep in shape during the off season. Spring semester couldn’t come soon enough, for with it, it brought the track and field season.

Tonight was an especially long night in the classroom. Herodotos had asked for her help on a research project regarding an ancient civilization that supposedly roamed the earth before the humans. She thought it was a bit of a stretch, but she helped him nonetheless. He was someone she looked up to and was an excellent professor to study under. She regarded him as a more influential father figure than Nikolaos.

The old man studied a scroll that ran the sideways length of his desk, “What if the Greek gods were based on a group of superior beings that had control over time and space? Perhaps humans were not able to comprehend such things and mistakenly labeled them as the gods?”

She looked up from her own stack of textbooks, “It’s possible, but is it likely?”

He scoured another source, this time the inscriptions of a hefty stone slab. He glanced at the clock on the wall, “Kassandra, you don’t have to stay here. It’s getting late, but I do appreciate your help and all you do for my students.”

She folded up the map of the Aegean Sea and placed it on his desk, “Chaire, Herodotos. I’ll see you later.”

He gave her another salutation in Greek as she headed out the door. They would often speak in Greek to each other to better appreciate their shared heritage. It made this whole college thing feel not so unfamiliar, and for that she was grateful.

She walked out of the arts and humanities hall and was greeted by the cold autumn air. The seasons were changing as November turned into December. Her step became a little more labor intensive when she remember the giant pile of papers waiting for her on her desk at home. Unfortunately she had promised her students she would hand their papers back by tomorrow, and she was not one to break promises; it was going to be a long haul.

Kassandra opened the door to the coffee shop she visited so often enough, she was becoming a regular. She was rather impressed that they were open this late, although coffee shops are prime study spots and closing early would be a major loss of profit, she thought. She saw her favorite barista behind the counter cleaning off the espresso machine. Kyra turned and walked over to the register to wait on Kassandra. She leaned forward and gave her a smile worth a million dollars, “What brings you here, Kassandra?”

“I think you know what I want,” Kassandra said, _I want what’s standing right in front of me_ , she wanted to say.

“I’m sorry but the help isn’t for sale,” Kyra replied, she looked away when she heard her supervisor cough, “Oh right, what can I get for you?”

She ordered a cafe Americano with extra espresso and Kyra made a snide comment about the coffee not being nearly as strong as her arms and Kassandra made a mental note about Kyra’s interest in her biceps.

The Americano was ready in no time, Kassandra grabbed the cup from the counter and almost forgot about the main reason she was even ordering espresso this late at night, “Oh, Kyra,” the girl whipped her head around, “my friend’s frat house is throwing a party and I was wondering if you’d like to check it out with me?”

Kyra paused to process the words and Kassandra was afraid she had said something offensive, “I uhhh mean, only if you want to go, and I didn’t mean anything when I said ‘with me,’ I wasn’t trying to insinuate anything on your part—”

Kyra cut her off, “Yes, I’ll go with you. Who knew the mighty Kassandra could become so… flustered.”

Kassandra brushed off the girl’s smug face, “I’ll text you later, good night, Kyra.”

She stepped out of the shop and immediately went through twenty scenarios in her head of how that whole situation could have gone smoother. That girl really did turn her into a bumbling mess. She didn’t care though, Kyra was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the Kyra quest line if you haven't played through it yet.

Kyra was fast asleep on her couch curled up in blankets as her hand rested in the popcorn bowl. She had come home from her shift at Ferryman and decided to have a baking show marathon until she fell asleep, it didn’t take long.

Her phone rang and the noise almost caused her to spill the popcorn all over the floor. She answered it with a groggy hello.

The voice on the other end sounded just as tired, “Hey, I’ve been reading student papers all night and some of them are so bad I want to gouge my eyes out, could you just tell me a story or something until I fall asleep at my desk?”

Kyra recognized the sleepy voice as Kassandra’s and wondered the real reason she was calling so late at night, “What’s wrong with their papers?”

“Well for starters, one of them has a note at the bottom saying, ‘Miss Teos, my grandmother’s cat’s uncle died from cancer, I hope you can understand and will choose to find nothing wrong with this essay,’” she paused and then grunted, “Who the fuck is Miss Teos? I’ve told them all term to call me Kassandra, that’s not even my last name!”

“Do they think you’re a harsh grader or something?”

“I’ve had a few complaints that I’m rather mercenary when it comes to giving out A’s.”

Kyra put the pieces together and didn’t try to hide her laughter over the phone, “Kassandra, ‘Miss Teos’ isn’t a title, it’s your new nickname.”

She did not hear a response from the tired historian’s assistant, “You can’t be Professor Herodotos’s TA and not be fluent in Greek! They’re calling you ‘misthios,’”

“Malaka!” Kassandra’s curse sounded so fucking hot.

“So you do know Greek,”

“These little shits won’t get away with this,”

Kyra restrained herself from snickering at the girl, “Lighten up, misthios,” she heard the girl grunt again, “okay I won’t call you that for now. You said you wanted a bedtime story?”

“Anything to take my mind off these papers, someone just cited the movie 300 as an academic source, please ease my suffering.”

Kyra laughed and tried to think of something that would distract her temporarily. She opted to tell her the story of her childhood. She spoke of a picturesque family, a strong father, a loving mother, and a little girl that loved her parents so much she even made them figurines. Everything was perfect until he started an affair that changed him forever. Corruption sank its fangs into his heart and he turned violent and cold, his loving embrace became a harsh touch.

He had come home late one night from a lengthy business trip and was more vicious than usual. The young girl watched from behind the door frame as her father shouted at his wife before strangling her. She screamed at the top of her lungs and fled the house. She ran until her legs could no longer carry her. The authorities found her under a bus stop and turned her over to her aunt’s protection after promising her they would find her father and lock him away forever.

“I grew up at my aunt’s house and I have not seen my father since,” she finished her story.

Kassandra grew more and more tired but listened the whole way through, her heart breaking at every new detail, “Kyra… I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, what’s done is done. I don’t care about him.”

“Your story sounds all too familiar.. Story for another.. time,”

The voice on the other end of the line went out and Kyra assumed she had fallen asleep buried in a pile of history papers. She chuckled and bid her goodnight.

Kyra went to bed shortly after that and dreamt of time where she would be falling asleep in Kassandra’s arms, rather than over the phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's me, I'm the student that cited 300 as historically accurate :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter the frat party scene
> 
> Spoilers for the Kythera quest line.

Kassandra woke up in a heap of papers and red pens. She had a weird dream that was most likely influenced from her extensive reading of the student papers. The dream consisted of her being a roguish mercenary with a pet eagle and their misadventures through the Ancient Greek world. Her sleepy mind’s eye conjured up the Parthenon in its full fourth century BCE glory. The columns were so vivid and the Statue of Athena glistened in the sun. The dream felt so realistic, like another lifetime that was trapped deep within her soul longing to escape.

She rubbed the tiredness from her eyes and realized she had fallen asleep in her day clothes. She tapped her phone, it was dead from a long phone conversation she remembered fondly from last night. She plugged the phone into its charger and remembered she had also invited Kyra to the frat party. As she changed into clean clothes she debated if she had made the right decision in inviting her. It seemed to be awfully soon for something like that, she didn’t want to potentially scare Kyra away.

The thought of her previous relationships came to her mind. She had had several flings with seemingly strangers she had met in dim bars and strange places. They didn’t mean much to her. Her only real, serious relationship was with a girl she met in Greece when she was searching for her brother, Alexios. Kassandra shivered at the thought, it was so long ago, yet felt like just yesterday.

The girl’s name was Diona. She was a few years older than Kassandra yet her confidence appealed to her. They met in Athens when Kassandra was on the trail of the ring leader of the Cartel that took Alexios. Myrrine had explored a lead in Korinth and said she would meet Kassandra in Athens later, she hated the idea of splitting up but they needed to work faster.

Kassandra walked the streets of Athens until she found the nondescript hole-in-the-wall place she was looking for. The man at the door held out his hand and she presented him with a letter. He opened it and saw the seal of approval and let her inside the hideout. There she met Diona, an informant who promised Kassandra help in exchange for a few tasks. Diona worked in one of the local churches and saw hundreds of people pass through their doors every week. If the Cartel had taken Alexios somewhere near the city, Diona would know.

Diona requested that Kassandra would help her restore public relations with the businesses and organizations in the area. The church was a place that brought in as many pious church goers as it did beggars. The other local businesses did not like the crowds that the church drew in. Kassandra was tasked with fixing the problem. She sent many forged business letters to the owners of the surrounding buildings and even sneaked into one of the buildings to erase some server data and records.

Through the course of completing the girl’s tasks, Kassandra fell madly in love with her. They would often spend long nights doing research on Alexios’s whereabouts and the doings of the Cartel. Kassandra was grateful to have a friend in this arduous process and expressed her love to Diona, to which she reciprocated. She felt on top of the world, they were close to closing in on the Cartel and she had a lover to support her, it seemed to be the light at the end of the tunnel.

Love was a fickle creature and things were not always as they seemed. The girls had just discovered the identity of an important higher-up of the Cartel. To celebrate their victory, Diona took Kassandra to one of the main bars in the city. They drank and laughed together and Kassandra remembered planting a kiss on her lips before her world went hazy.

Diona had laced her drink and sold her out to the Cartel. When Kassandra awoke, she was sitting in a dark warehouse and saw the girl’s figure come into view. Diona knelt down and explained to Kassandra that what she did was necessary, the Cartel had placed a big sum of money on her head and Diona had used her charm to seduce the bounty’s target. Kassandra spat at her but was held back by the Cartel guards. In a fit of rage she wrestled free from the guards and was able to take one of their guns. She killed the guards instantly and chambered a round for her betrayer.

“How could you, I trusted you!” she hissed pointing the barrel at Diona.

Diona held the gun to her own head, “Can’t blame a girl for wanting some spending cash, and besides, you were so easy to fool. I don’t know why they want you too, you’re just as weak as your pathetic little brother—”

The shot echoed off the warehouse walls and Diona’s body slumped to the ground. She laid in her own puddle of blood as Kassandra threw the gun down on her cold, dead body.

Her heart ached at the past and she realized she was crying. She had been through so much, too much for someone her age. She had twice the life experience and more even though it was only her third year of college. She wondered if things would ever be normal, if she could ever learn to trust someone again and if the risk was worth the reward.

Kassandra smoothed her braid with her hand as she waited at the front door of Kyra’s apartment building. She had dressed herself in ripped jeans, a gray tee shirt, and her Spartan letterman’s jacket since it was a sports themed party. The right side bore the fierce Spartan helmet and the left, a Greek lambda symbol.

Kyra met her outside a few moments later and Kassandra was taken aback by her beauty. The girl wore a maroon tee with the school’s name etched across the front and a pair of skinny jeans, a simple outfit really, but attractive to Kassandra nonetheless.

“Thanks for offering to pick me up, Kassandra,” Kyra said.

She nodded and led the way to the curb side spot where she parked. Kassandra fiddled with her key fob before unlocking it. She stopped when she noticed Kyra wasn’t following her.

“That’s your car? How do you have this? Maybe I need to think about becoming a teacher’s assistant,” Kyra said as she gawked at the car.

It was an old, classic ‘65 Mustang Fastback. It had been preserved through the years and the red paint job looked fresh from the dealer. Kassandra rapped the roof of the car, “Yeah I have my ways,” she didn’t feel the need to tell Kyra she had won the car in an illegal gamble over a winery.

She held the passenger’s door open for Kyra before hopping into the driver’s side. The engine roared to life and they were off down the street.

The frat house was only a few minutes from the university, but Kassandra felt the need to spend those moments with Kyra. The old radio blared rock music and Kassandra felt Kyra place her hand over hers as it rested on the gear shift. She looked down at their hands and smiled.

They pulled up to the scene of the action, the Lambda frat house. The yard was covered with red and gold streamers and the party lights stood out against the dark sky. She found a place to park a few houses down; she quickly walked around the hood of the car to open up the passenger’s door.

“How chivalrous of you, misthios,” Kyra noted.

She rolled her eyes at the nickname, she only tolerated it when it came from Kyra’s mouth.

A big beefy frat boy opened the door for the two girls and was very clearly checking Kyra out. Kassandra gave him a death glare behind Kyra’s back. The house was already filled to the brim with half drunk, half high college students. Red Solo cups littered the tables and couples were laying all over each other on any available piece of furniture.

Kassandra heard the ever so recognizable thunk of a ping pong ball landing in a cup of beer. She saw a girl chug the contents of the cup in record time. Beyond the table was the backyard and pool that Brasidas notoriously threw up in once upon a time.

“You made it! And this must be Kassandra!” said a slightly buzzed boy with the signature Spartan braid.

“Thaletas, what are you doing here?” Kyra said. Kassandra eyed the boy carefully, _so this was Kyra’s childhood friend_ , she thought. She knew they were only friends, but yet she could not help the twinge of jealousy she felt.

“Some of the other guys invited me, they said something about checking out the babes, but honestly I’m here for the party enhancers, if you know what I mean,” he let out a deep laugh and Kyra only warned him that she would not bail him out of jail if the police arrived. He heeded her warning and staggered off towards the basement with some other partygoers who looked like they were projecting into another plane of existence.

The house was crowded and Kyra emboldened herself to take Kassandra’s hand. She led them to the kitchen and there they found Brasidas doing some makeshift bartending. He greeted them warmly, “Well if it isn’t my favorite Spartan!”

“Brasidas, I’m glad we found you. This is Kyra,” she introduced them.

Brasidas shook Kyra’s hand and greeted her. He asked them if they wanted anything to drink and when Kyra responded a little too enthusiastically, he reached for the special reserve on the top shelf. He poured them both the most expensive vodka in the entire house, none of the cheap stuff for his friend and her potential girl. Kassandra toasted him, then the girls made their way to the patio where people had gathered to watch someone jump off the roof into the pool.

“Do a swan dive!” yelled one of the girls.

Kassandra looked up to the apex of the roof and saw a skinny figure grasping a pizza pool floaty. She recognized that slender body anywhere, it was Alkibiades. He was a self proclaimed male model and his path crossed Kassandra’s many times in their freshman year. He had flirted with her incessantly but it seemed to be part of his nature.

He yelled down from the roof, “Someone better be filming this for YouTube, make sure to get my good side!” He backed up from the edge and jumped off performing a perfect swan dive with the pizza floaty. He landed gracefully into the pool and Kassandra was impressed he had the nerve to do that all while nude. Alkibiades resurfaced from the water to the cheers of many drunken students. He waved at them and made sure to blow a kiss at the boy that was surely posting the video all over social media.

Kyra took a long sip of her drink, “Dude’s got guts.” The alcohol loosened up her senses and she tugged on Kassandra’s hand and begged her to go play beer pong. Kassandra politely declined but said she would cheer for her regardless.

They approached the ping pong table and Kyra was quickly recruited onto a team of all boys while Kassandra leaned against the wall and rolled her eyes at the displays of affection Kyra was receiving.

“What’s a party animal like you doing standing in the corner?” said Alkibiades. He had wrapped a towel around himself and was still soaking wet from his pool stunt.

Kassandra looked at him, “Oh you know me, parties aren’t really my thing. Impressive little jump by the way. I’ve done it from higher.” She smirked.

“Of course you have, Kassandra,” he took the cup from her hand and drank the contents, “You’re here because you’re trying to impress someone, aren’t you?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Well, if you are trying to impress me, you don’t need to do anything else besides just stand there,” he pinched his fingers together and kissed them, “You are… magnificent.”

“I think you need to put more clothes on,”

“On the contrary, little bird, I am going somewhere where the clothes are optional,” he winked, “come find me upstairs with the others for a good time.”

She watched him saunter away as he grabbed the hands of two good looking partygoers and dragged them away to the bedrooms.

Over the course of their one-sided flirtation, Kyra’s team had sunk most of the other cups. When the other team finally started to score some points, she volunteered every time to drink the beer; she was growing more intoxicated by the second.

Kassandra watched as Kyra won the last round and garnered shouts of victory from the other tipsy frat boys. One very tall boy put his hand a little too low on Kyra’s back and began talking to her. She could tell Kyra was becoming more uncomfortable the longer the conversation went on. She could’ve easily beat this guy to a bloody pulp, but she thought that that might ruin the mood.

She grabbed a beer bottle from the table beside her and walked up to the two. She positioned herself between the stranger and Kyra, “Hey.”

Kyra’s eyes lit up at the sight of her coming to the rescue, “Oh hey, _babe_ , I was wondering when you’d come back.”

The boy looked between the two and suddenly Kyra did something unexpected. She pulled Kassandra in by the front of her letterman’s jacket and kissed her. Kassandra’s brain was on fire, the touch felt electric, the air was light and fuzzy. She wanted to stay there like that forever, but Kyra pulled away and looked at the boy who quickly lowered his interest in her.

Kyra grabbed the bottle from Kassandra’s hand and drank at least half of it in one go, “I’m really sorry about that, he was bothering me and I panicked.” She giggled and leaned against Kassandra who was now supporting most of her weight. She met her eyes and there was a fire buried within them, “It wasn’t that bad though, was it?”

“Not too bad for someone who’s severely drunk off their ass,” Kassandra teased.

“I’ll show you I can still control my senses,” Kyra yanked her wrist and pulled her off towards the bathroom.

She dragged Kassandra inside and shut the door behind her, pushing Kassandra up against it. She placed her lips on her neck and removed Kassandra’s letterman’s jacket. She ran her hands up and down Kassandra’s body and felt her muscles tense beneath her touch. She brought her hand back up to tilt the girl’s head towards hers and kissed her again.

Kassandra was barely in control of her own thoughts as she felt Kyra’s lips on hers. The kiss turned into messy opened mouth kisses as her hands found the waistband of Kassandra’s jeans. She tugged on them and Kassandra put her hand on Kyra’s, “Not here, not now. You’re insanely drunk right now, you’re not going to remember this.”

Kyra whined into her ear and let go of her jeans, “You’re just so frustratingly attractive… so, soo sexy—”

Kassandra put a finger to her lips, “I think you’ve had enough alcohol for an entire fraternity, let’s get you home.”

Kyra’s mind went fuzzy and she slumped against the girl. Kassandra led her out of the bathroom and wrapped her jacket around her shoulders. Brasidas saw her leave the bathroom and noticed her hair was ruffled; he whistled at her. She ignored him and walked Kyra out the door. Fortunately, Kassandra was not feeling anything from the alcohol since Alkibiades had taken her cup from her. Kyra wasn’t so lucky, the poor girl was so drunk, she practically had to carry her to the car. Suddenly, parking a few houses away didn’t seem like such a good idea.

She opened the car door and placed Kyra inside. She handed the girl a paper sack bracing for the worst. She did not want a mess to be made all over the seats. Kyra mumbled something about how fucking hot she was and Kassandra blushed even though she knew Kyra was not in her right mind.

They arrived back at Kyra’s apartment but she couldn’t remember where her keys were, which number was hers, or even the correct floor she lived on. Kassandra thought through her options, she was not about to grope Kyra for her keys nor was she about to leave her alone. She ushered her back into the Mustang and drove off towards her own apartment.

A few minutes later she brought Kyra into her house and sat her down on the couch. She fetched her water and some preemptive ibuprofen.

“What are these for…” Kyra stared at her blankly.

Kassandra didn’t answer her as she tipped her head back and placed the cup of water to her lips, “Drink.”

“Oh, I’m really good at that.”

“I know,” Kassandra was afraid to leave Kyra alone for more than a few seconds, but she got up and found her a change of clothes—Kyra had spilled beer on her shirt. When she came back to the living room, Kyra had finished the water and was clutching her head. She brought the clothes to her and placed them in front of the intoxicated girl but soon realized she was not capable of dressing herself.

She led Kyra into the bathroom and made her sit on the counter top. She took the jacket off of her shoulders and Kyra thought she was trying to undress her for more “promiscuous” reasons.

“Hold still will you,” Kassandra said as she tried to pull her shirt off to replace it with a clean one.

Kyra giggled and tried to touch Kassandra’s face every five seconds. After much difficulty, she had replaced Kyra’s party-soiled clothes with one of her old track tee shirts and pajama shorts. Kassandra did have to admit that Kyra looked cute in her sports gear.

She cleaned up Kyra’s face with a warm washcloth and helped her settle into bed. The girl became sleepy and drifted off as soon as her head hit the pillow. Kassandra tucked the covers in and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, _you’re going to be the death of me_.

Kassandra changed into her own pajamas and brushed her teeth. She grabbed some blankets from the closet and went to get an extra pillow from beside Kyra when she heard her mumble,

“Mmm, Kassandra?” Kyra outstretched her arm and grabbed her hand, “Please don’t go.”

Kassandra melted under how gentle she sounded and climbed into the bed next to her. She turned off the bedside lamp and did her best to give the girl space. This task proved difficult when she felt Kyra press herself into her back and wrap an arm around her waist. She heard Kyra’s breathing even out and closed her eyes too; she focused on the sound of Kyra’s heartbeat.

Where this relationship was headed, she did not know. She only knew that she wanted to do everything in her power to take care of this girl and protect her from all the bad things that she had experienced in her own life. The world was a broken bone, but she was determined to keep her safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you've been to a frat party, I haven't can you tell? :)


	7. Chapter 7

The tall skyscrapers reflected pink tones in the early morning light. For once, the roads seemed a little less busy and the sidewalks a little less crowded; everyone was sleeping in on the weekend. A few coffee shops and stores had opened their doors to the general public long before the sun woke up, and Kyra should have been there, serving coffee and tea to the hustlers of the city. But instead she’s lying in a strange bed with a massive headache.

The girl sat up and fussed with the shirt she slept in, it definitely wasn’t hers. It read “Sparta Track and Field Team” with an outline of a spike shoe with wings. She further looked down her body to the pajama shorts she was wearing. She didn’t remember changing her clothes let alone joining a track team.

Her eyes scanned the room for a sign of life. She did not see anyone. The bed was dressed neatly except for the spot she occupied. The sheets were soft and the comforter was a dark red that complimented the accent wall. A picture sat on the dresser, it depicted a family of four; a man with dark hair and a stoic face, a woman with brunette hair and a kind smile, and finally a young girl with a baby in her arms. Kyra stared at the picture, the girl looked an awful lot like Kassandra.

 _Kassandra_ , she thought. Images of last night’s party flooded her mind like a valve had finally been released. She remembered the Mustang, the beer pong, the weird frat boy that tried to hit on her, Kassandra coming to bail her out… Her mind went fuzzy. She knew an important detail was missing from her mind. She racked her brain to remember the rest of the night. All she could deduce was that she got a little too drunk and needed to be stopped.

She wrinkled her face in thought when she wondered if she was waking up from a one night stand. Not that she _didn’t_ want to have that experience in Kassandra’s bed, she just wanted it to be more special than the result of a drunken night out.

The smell of bacon wafted through the apartment, the scent enticed Kyra to get up. She opened the bedroom door and ventured out towards the kitchen. The hallway was lined with more pictures of family and travels. She spotted the Parthenon, picturesque Mykonos, sunny Santorini, and many other popular Greek destinations. One picture in particular caught her eye, a portrait of the woman from the family photo, several years older. She stood with her hands clasped around a short spear that seemed to glint in the light. It looked so real that Kyra wanted to reach out and touch it, she almost did too until a voice from the kitchen caught her attention,

“That’s my mother, Myrrine. She wanted a classical portrait to be painted of her before we left Athens for good.”

Kyra turned her head towards the sound of her voice.

“She insisted on having that spear in the portrait, it’s a family heirloom. Don’t ask me why,”

So many questions ran through Kyra’s mind, there were still so many things she didn’t know about this girl. Like a complex equation, she was determined to figure her out.

She walked over towards Kassandra and took a seat at the kitchen island, “She’s beautiful, I see where you get your good looks.”

Kassandra smiled, _god she looked so good in the mornings_ , Kyra thought. She wanted to wake up to this sight every morning.

“She’s a good woman, she’s been through a lot but she does everything in her power to keep the family together,” Kassandra trailed off as if something heavy was weighing on her heart.

 _Tell me everything Kassandra, I want to know every detail about your life_ , she thought.

Kassandra turned around to crack an egg into another skillet, “I hope you like bacon. How do you like your eggs?”

“Sunny side up, firm whites, runny yolk.”

“How precise of you, Kyra,” she turned back around and leaned her forearms against the island, “Did you sleep well, hopefully I didn’t wake you when I got up.”

Kyra stared down at Kassandra’s distracting arms, “I slept well, although I’ve got a splitting headache.”

She let out a hearty laugh and slid a glass of water towards her, “Maybe you’ll think twice before you drink an entire fraternity dry. You were pretty out of it towards the end of the night.”

Kyra put a hand behind her head, “What exactly happened?”

Kassandra looked down at her hands, “You had enough alcohol to make Dionysus jealous and threatened to pass out on me. I drove you back to your apartment but you were too out of it to remember your apartment number or find your keys. I couldn’t just leave you so I brought you back here,” she turned back to the stovetop, “And boy, was it a pain to get that shirt off you.”

Kyra blinked twice, had she just heard her correctly? “Did we, we uhh didn’t do anything out of the ordinary?”

Still facing away from her, “God no, I would never take advantage of someone who’s drunk. I was talking about getting you into clean clothes. Let’s just say your jeans and tee shirt smell like the floor of a bar.”

Kyra was glad Kassandra was focused on cooking, she suspected her face was as red like the comforter she had just been wrapped up in. A new feeling washed over her, a feeling of gratitude and admiration that Kassandra had gone to such great lengths to take care of her.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, silence in between them except for the sound of breakfast being cooked. Kyra took the chance to drink in Kassandra’s form. She was wearing another track shirt similar to Kyra’s except it looked newer, from a more recent season. The sleeves were cuffed and Kyra admired her biceps. She noticed a three pronged scar adorning her right arm and wondered what crazy story accompanied it.

“What are you staring at now, I thought you only made eyes when you were getting paid to do it at work.”

Kyra mentally scolded herself for getting caught again, “I do not stare at you, misthios. But if I did, would I really need to get paid for it?”

Kassandra slid a plate full of bacon and eggs towards her, Kyra’s stomach rumbled, she hadn’t eaten since long before the party. “If you’re wondering about any of my battle wounds, you can just ask. I might even let you look at them up close,” she winked.

Damn, this woman knew everything. Kyra didn’t dwell on it, she took a bite of the food in front of her, it was amazing. Kassandra could add cooking to the long list of things she’s good at.

After they had finished eating, Kassandra mentioned she had the whole day free and that Kyra could stay as long as she liked.

They spent a long portion of the day curled up on her couch watching an odd combination of rom coms and suspense thrillers.

They opted to finish the marathon with the first Indiana Jones movie. Kyra thought it would be enjoyable, but Kassandra interjected her opinion on the historical accuracy of it every five seconds,

“Egypt does not look like that, there’s no way they just dug around an ancient tomb without even noticing it.”

“Well aren’t you the historical expert,” Kyra retorted.

“These movies are teaching people false history,” she clenched her fist.

“Better than that stupid Rogue’s Deed game Thaletas and his friends play, I have never seen something twist history like that,” she played with Kassandra’s finger, “Although, he said he found his way through the back streets of London when his phone died thanks to that game.”

Kassandra giggled and squeezed her hand. Kyra’s whole body felt warm from the reciprocated affection.

The end credits rolled across the screen and Kyra realized it was about to be 6:30, she had better get going. Kassandra helped gather her things and drove her home. This time she remembered which apartment was hers and had her keys in hand.

Kassandra walked her up to her apartment door and thanked her for spending the day with her. She bid the history TA goodbye and opened the door.

Once the door had clicked, she leaned back on it and took a deep breath. She ran a hand through her hair as she pondered what this all meant, what all the feelings meant, what each and every look of longing meant. She desperately wanted things to work out but she had no idea where to begin. There was no way a girl like Kassandra would even think twice about her, she thought. She was used to being a second thought to everyone else, why would this be any different?

Her phone chirped, she had a voicemail from her aunt. Odd, she thought, her aunt usually texted her if she needed something, it must have been important. She lifted the phone to her ear and her anxiety turned into a very different kind; her aunt had called to say that her father was on death row, his last request was to see his daughter.

She clutched the phone so tightly she thought it might shatter, what the fuck did he want with her now, hadn’t he done enough damage?

Kyra got up and took a shower, she needed to clean her mind of everything that had just happened. The water felt good as it washed away the filth of the party and the animosity of the thought of her father.

Once dressed again, she used a shaky hand to call back her aunt. This was going to be an interesting series of events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient! Real life midterms have derailed the writing process. Enjoy :)


	8. Chapter 8

The following weeks went by in a flurry of papers, exams, and late night study sessions—it was the beginning of finals week. The library was once again overrun with students in a frenzied attempt to cram before their tests. The hallways of the campus were eerily silent as was the rest of the campus, save for a special group of Spartans.

The Lambdas engaged in their end of term ritual which included but was not limited to sprinting shirtless down the quad, swimming in the freezing cold central fountain, and screaming battle cries at the top of their lungs from the rooftop of Lakonia Hall, the biggest lecture hall on campus.

Kassandra watched from her office window as Brasidas led the boys in the shirtless sprint across the chilly quad. He and another frat boy held the house flags as they led the pack. She chuckled as he waved at her from the ground, she chuckled ever more when a fellow Lambda tripped on a tree root and barrelled into Brasidas. _A Spartan never falls_.

The office was of fair size for a simple teacher’s assistant; Herodotos had pulled some strings to get her an office that did not have the square footage of a broom closet. She made it cozy nonetheless. It was lit up by hanging Edison lamps that offered a softer light than that of the normal overhead lights. Big maps from many different eras adorned the walls, a Victorian globe sat in the corner, and in the center was a big oak desk with two wheeled chairs on either side. She had managed to convince the English department to let her have it when they were going to get rid of it as well as an old bookshelf.

She returned her attention to her desk and the papers that occupied it. She had decided to extend her office hours to anyone that may have wanted help studying for the final. Since no one was taking advantage of it, she used the time to study for her calculus exam. This subject would be the death of her, she thought. Thankfully Kyra had been helping her and she was improving her grade dramatically.

A quiet knock on the door caused her to pull her eyes off the equations, “Come in.”

A rather thin man in his mid 30s walked into her office and sat down in front of her desk, “What can I help you with, Leiandros?”

Though he was much older than the typical college student, he had decided to go back to school to finish his degree in marketing so that he could better support his family. He was a kind soul with a knack for getting himself into sticky situations. He hoped that finishing his degree would help keep him out of trouble.

Leiandros asked her to clarify some things about the essay portion of the exam. She happily answered his questions (No, there would not be any questions on the Minotaur.)

After she had answered everything for him, he headed out the door, “Oh hey there, Brasidas.”

“You look stressed, Leiandros.”

“Yeah, I’m not feeling too ready for the history exam, maybe I could just pay Kassandra to help me out—”

“Not a chance,” she interjected.

Leiandros frowned and left the office making way for Brasidas to enter in. He was wearing basketball shorts and had wrapped the flag around his torso like a toga, frat boys were so weird she thought. He sat down in Leiandros’ place and squinted at something behind her.

“What are you staring at, you’ve seen my office before.”

“How did you get that thing past campus security?” he said pointing at the sharp object resting on the bookcase.

A half broken spear lay on the shelf behind her. He could’ve sworn it emitted a strange glow if he looked at it for too long. The head looked like it could cut through diamond. The wooden handled was splintered off at the end, like someone had snapped it in two.

Kassandra turned around and picked it off the shelf, she turned it over in her hand and let Brasidas hold it for a moment, “It’s a family heirloom from my mother’s side of the family. Legend says it was the spear Leonidas used to fend off the Persians at Thermopylae. How much of it I believe, I’m not sure. But I know she’s fond of it and wanted me to take it to college with me for good luck.”

He ran the blade over the back of his forearm and shaved a few hairs off, this thing was razor sharp. He gave her another puzzled look.

“I told the dean of the department it was for ‘religious reasons’ and he let me keep it. If you pull the right cards, they’ll let you get away with anything.”

Confusion further danced on his face, “What could possibly be religious about this?” He handed it back to her, he wasn’t fond of the suspicious red stain on the shaft.

“I told him it was the spear that pierced Jesus and he immediately agreed to let me have it on campus. It’s also a great letter opener, so it’s ‘religious’ and functional.”

Brasidas wasn’t too sure how he felt about that logic, but he didn’t care. He was here to tell Kassandra that the Lambdas would be jumping into the university fountain at midnight and all were welcomed to join in.

She agreed to it as long as he promised the other frat boys would keep their underwear on. She did not want a repeat of last year with the campus police showing up and shining their flashlights on a bunch of naked frat boys.

He promised her that his cohort would stay clothed for this event.

“Glad you’ll be joining us, maybe you can convince Anthousa to do it this year too. It’s our last year at college and she has to experience it at least once!”

Anthousa was a fourth year student studying sociology and she was also Brasidas’ longtime girlfriend. They had met in their freshman year in a class about criminal justice. They hit it off immediately when they were both paired up in a group project over a mock court case concerning a notorious serial killer.

He had asked her out on a date when the class ended to which she agreed; the rest was history.

Kassandra said she’d do her best to get Anthousa to join in on the fraternity’s weird rituals. She made no promises, that girl did not like to get her hair wet.

When the clock struck a quarter til midnight, Kassandra made her way to the central fountain. She layered a hoodie over a tee shirt and jeans over her running shorts. The air was cooler than normal, she was going to regret this.

As she made her way to the fountain, she heard the unmistakable noise of camaraderie and tom foolery. The Lambdas were there clasping their red and gold towels. However, Brasidas was nowhere in sight.

When Kassandra approached the frat boys, they quickly huddled around her and started cheering; she didn’t know why she was so popular with them. She thought it had something to do with the fact she had helped them all pass their history classes. The other side of her brain thought that they just liked her because she was a girl who was about to jump into freezing cold water wearing nothing but a thin shirt and shorts. _It’s definitely the second one_ , she thought.

Anthousa and Brasidas appeared a few minutes later. He was still wrapped in his toga and she was wearing a swimsuit, apparently Kassandra’s text had worked, she was going to jump in.

The clock struck midnight and the first frat boy to jump into the big circular fountain cried “Poseidon quivers before us!”

A series of splashes followed as the other boys jumped in after him. They tread the freezing water and let out battle cries of victory the entire time.

Brasidas kissed Anthousa on the cheek, “It’s now or never!” he took a running start and cannonballed into the fountain.

Kassandra saw Anthousa roll her eyes before she stepped onto the stone edge. She dipped a toe in and shivered, “I don’t know about this, babe…”

Brasidas signaled Kassandra, who was disrobing her hoodie and pants, with his hand discreetly, “The water is warm, I promise. Once you lose feeling it’s not so bad, sweetheart.”

“I think I’ll watch you instead—” she let out a high pitch scream as she felt Kassandra tackle her and they both fell into the fountain.

She swatted at Kassandra’s arms that held her in a death grip. The water was so cold and she was so ready to kill Brasidas, she just knew he was behind this. Kassandra released her when Anthousa accidentally backhanded her in the throat.

Anthousa used a random boy as a step ladder to climb out of the fountain and ran to grab her towel immediately. She wrapped it around her frigid body and gave the two a death glare. Her look was colder than the water.

Kassandra watched as Brasidas hopped out and tried to hug her with his cold, wet body. Anthousa dodged him and flicked him in the cheek. He was definitely not getting any kisses for a long time.

She shimmied out of the fountain and instantly regretted it when she realized she had forgotten a towel. The cold air stuck to her wet skin and her teeth chattered. One of the Lambdas whistled at her to which she prominently stuck out her middle finger.

Between Anthousa’s rage and the cold air, she was starting off finals week with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout @thatsouthernanthem for the inspiration of Anthousa and Babesidas being an item. If you want more Babesidas content, give her some views on her own stories. You won't regret it!


	9. Chapter 9

Kyra sat in the back room at Ferryman as she lazily scrolled through her Instagram feed. She swiped through the videos and pictures of the fountain jumping idiots, she had no interest in frat activities since her last time with them resulted in a killer headache. 

She stopped on one group photo of the students who had participated in last night’s ritual. There were about a dozen shirtless frat boys in the picture. They were handsome, but what caught her eye was one of the two girls in the entire picture. She hesitated and then enlarged the photo only to realize it was Kassandra soaking wet in a white tee shirt.

Kyra’s mouth dropped as she studied the photo and the way certain body parts were more prominent than others and how it looked like she was not wearing any shorts under that shirt. This girl was chiseled by the gods, the peak of human perfection.

One of her coworkers noticed Kyra staring at her phone and looked over her shoulder, “Oh those boys are cute,” said Odessa.

Kyra covered the screen with her hand, “What are you doing?”

Odessa wrenched the phone from her hand and teased her, “You’re not making eyes at the frat boys from the party though… Oh my god, is that who I think it is?” she zoomed in on Kassandra’s face, “That’s that girl from the track team, no way. You’ve got the hots for her, Kyra?”   


Her face turned the same shade of pink as the icing on the cake pops they served out front. She reclaimed her phone from her coworker, “What’s it matter to you.”

Odessa fiddled with her apron, “Oh nothing, I’ve just heard that she’s slept with the entire track team. And by ‘entire’ I mean everyone, boys, girls, and even the coach.”

Kyra narrowed her eyes at the girl, “Why should I trust you, Odessa, you usually like to lie to me about things including about who last cleaned the espresso machine.”

She studied Kyra and patted her on the shoulder rather patronizingly, “I just don’t want you to get your heart broken when she leaves you for the next prettiest new thing. I’m just looking out for you, that’s all.”

She walked off to the front of the house and Kyra slumped into her chair. Great, this is exactly what she needed, doubts about Kassandra. Why should she believe Odessa though? That girl was nothing but trouble from the day they met each other. Something however, felt oddly truthful about her warning. Kyra would have to figure it out for herself later.

The work day burned away quickly up until the last half hour of her shift. Odessa kept breathing down her neck and every single customer that walked through that cursed door thought they knew how to roast coffee better than she could. 

When it was time for her to clock out, a wave of dread clouded her head and suddenly she didn’t want to leave. She’d much rather endure insufferable coworkers than deal with what she was about to face.

Today was the day before Podarkes, her father, was sentenced to be executed for the crimes he had committed to their family all those years ago. His last request was to see Kyra one last time.

Why she agreed to visit, she had no clue, but walking into the prison now felt like a trap. Kyra was escorted into an eerily empty room after going through numerous security checks and signing off on at least twenty legal forms. The emotionless guards stood on either side of the door while she sat at the plain metal table. 

She twiddled her thumbs as she waited for her father. So many words raced through her mind at a million miles a minute. She had so much to say to him, to blame him. She even considered taking the law into her own hands and ending him herself, she knew the guards wouldn’t allow that however. 

The door scraped against the floor and a guard escorted a frail, old man into the room. The guard secured him to the chair opposite of her and stood behind him. The resentment flowed through her veins when she looked at him. Boy, did he look pathetic, reduced to nothing in prison clothes and handcuffs. He was no longer that scary, abusive father she knew in her earlier years; now he had a fraction of that strength and was just a number in the prison’s databanks. It felt good to see him like this. 

Podarkes stared at her with the eyes of a wounded wolf, “I’m glad you got my message, I was hoping you’d have the decency to grant a man his dying wish.”

“You don’t deserve anything, Podarkes,” she spat out.

“Kyra, don’t do this,” he pleaded.

She slammed a fist to the table so loudly it made the guards wonder if she needed to be restrained as well, “You took everything from me, what makes you think you don’t deserve this?” 

He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him short, “I can still hear her, you know, I can still hear mother’s screams as you forced the life out of her. You’re a monster, and I am not your daughter.”

They sat there in cold, bitter silence and she could feel her skin crawl in his presence.

“There’s not a day I don’t regret everything that happened,” he said.

“Good. Tell that to the Devil himself,” she stood up from her chair and told the guards she wanted to leave.

“Kyra!” he pleaded, but not a bone in her body cared.

On her way out, she looked back for a brief moment to see the look of utter devastation on his face. Maybe now he could feel a fraction of the pain he had caused her so many years ago. 

White hot anger refilled her body as she stepped out of the prison. Only when she got in the car did she realize she was crying, crying for her mother and how she had missed out on watching her daughter grow up. The pain would never go away, but knowing that his time was about to end, gave her a little hint of justice.

She dug her phone out of her bag and dialed the number she had loved seeing pop up into her notifications the most.

Kassandra picked up on the first ring and Kyra did her best to conceal the shakiness in her voice. She asked Kassandra if she could come over for a little bit, she needed to get her mind off of everything. Kassandra invited her over and promised her comfort food and a cheesy romance movie. It sounded like the perfect distraction to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm truly sorry if you like Odessa, I needed a mean girl archetype. Forgive me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mothers have the worst timing.

The girls laid in a heap of blankets and junk food on Kassandra’s couch. Though she laughed at the characters on screen, Kassandra knew there was something going on beneath the surface, it was the same tactic she used when she didn’t want others to know she was upset. She did her best not to ask any questions, if Kyra wanted to tell her what was wrong she would do it on her own time.

When Kassandra’s hand brushed against hers, Kyra did not hesitate to grab it. It was a mindless gesture really, but one that made Kassandra’s face feel a little extra warm. They stayed like that for the rest of the movie, hands entwined, eyes glued to the TV, not daring to steal glances at each other for fear of getting caught.

Kassandra wasn’t quite sure why they were dancing around each other in this way. They both liked each other, at least Kassandra thought it was obvious. Doubt rooted itself in her mind when she remembered that Kyra had not said anything about that unforgettable moment in the frat house bathroom; Kassandra could never forget the way she caused her to get lost in time for a brief moment. Getting pushed up against the door was enough to send her brain into paradise for a moment again.

It had been a few weeks since that happened, since they shared a bed together yet both never mentioned the heated events of the night before. Kassandra wondered if Kyra was bottling it up or if she had truly forgotten everything in her drunken state. She didn’t want to dwell on it, it would only cause her more sadness if she was being used as another tool of pleasure.

But that wasn’t right, she knew that what they had was more than the result of intoxication and hormones; no, this felt real, it felt right.

Kyra leaned into Kassandra’s side and rested her head on her shoulder. She let out a sigh, “I haven’t told you the real reason I wanted to come over, have I?”

“Isn’t seeing me enough of a reason?”

Kyra squeezed her hand, “Always so confident, Kassandra, of course I like spending time with you. It’s a good distraction from family…”

She mumbled on about seeing Podarkes for the first time since she had run away, the anger and spite she felt towards him, the heartache when she realized he would be gone, and the confusion concerning her unexpected remorse of his approaching death.

Through it all Kassandra never stopped stroking her hand.

Kassandra knew what it was like to have bitter feelings mix and breed with compassion; she had felt that way when she saw Nikolaos for the first time since the kidnapping. It was a dangerous combination and a turmoil that would have surely driven her crazy had she not learned to walk the line.

Eventually the hurt and resentment of the past faded away and they were able to live as a family again. That same healing would come to Kyra’s soul in due time. For now, Kassandra wanted nothing more than to comfort her and hold her in her arms even if the definition of their relationship was blurred.

Kassandra felt a wetness pooling up on her shoulder; Kyra was crying. She grabbed Kyra in a tight embrace as the girl’s silent tears turned into sobs. She held her tightly and let her vent her frustrations.

Kyra wiped her eyes, her face a mess and her hair plastered to her face, “I’m sorry you have to see me like this, I’m sure it’s not what you had in mind for a movie night.”

Kassandra rubbed gentle circles into her back, “Don’t apologize, Kyra, this is a serious matter. You don’t have to be embarrassed around me, you’re safe.”

Kyra smiled at her words and placed a kiss on her cheek, “Thank you for everything.”

She pulled away from Kassandra to readjust the blankets they were both tangled up in. Kassandra hoped she did not see her move a hand up to her cheek, as if to make sure the contact was real.

She had no time to dwell on that when her phone rang on the coffee table. She gave Kyra an apologetic look as she answered, “Hello, mater.”

Myrrine’s voice hummed over the phone, “Oh how I’ve missed your voice! Is this a good time to talk?”

Kassandra side eyed Kyra, “I’m kind of in the middle of hanging out with someone—”

“Kassandra, are you on a date?!”

She gritted her teeth, “No, mom, how many times do I have to tell you that it’s none of your business,” she stood up from the couch, she did not want Kyra hearing this embarrassing exchange.

Myrrine chuckled at her and changed the subject, “I will find out one way or another. Anyways, I’m calling to talk to you about winter break. You are coming home aren’t you?” The question was rhetorical, of course she was coming home.

“I need to know how long you’re planning on staying and if you’re bringing anyone special with you, I will not be an unprepared host!”

Kassandra smirked as she thought of the time Stentor invited a big majority of his freshman class over for an afterschool Smash Bros tournament and Myrrine had been mightily unprepared. The thought of being an unready host mortified her.

“I will be there for the entirety of winter break minus the time it takes to drive home. And, no, I will not be bringing anyone.”

The other end was silent for a few beats. She could tell her mother was tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter top, “Why don’t you invite that special someone you’re ‘hanging out’ with right now?”

She peaked around the corner, Kyra was still huddled on the couch, apparently unphased. Kassandra lowered her tone, “Mom, it’s just this girl from school, she’s really nice, but we are just friends.”

“You can still invite her, it would make your mother happy to have the extra company. And besides, you’ve got to hurry up, I want grandchildren.”

“Mother!” she clenched her phone in a death grip and prayed that Kyra could not hear the other end of the conversation, “I will see you in a few days.”

She hung up on her mother and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her mother had a mind of her own sometimes. She cleared her throat before walking back into the living room, “How much of that did you hear?”

Kyra looked up at her and smirked, “I heard she wants grandbabies.”

The color drained from Kassandra’s face and she turned around without acknowledging her. She walked to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of red wine. She opened it and poured two glasses before walking back over to the girl on the couch, Kyra nodded when she took the glass. “Well, I was going to ask you something important, but now I think I’m a little too embarrassed so we are going to wait until the wine loosens my lips.”

She watched as Kyra sipped at her wine, _that’s not the only thing I want to do with my lips_ , she thought.

After a few more glasses and many laughs later, Kassandra remembered what she was going to ask her, “Kyra, I know you’ve had a rough day and you probably already have plans, and I don’t want to impose my family on you, and I understand if you think this is strange—”

Kyra interrupted her ramble, “What’s on your mind?”

“Will you come home with me?”

She breathed the words out so quickly she wondered if Kyra had even heard her. She stared blankly at the girl and Kassandra thought for a moment that she had said something wrong.

“Are you asking me, a humble college student, to run off with some girl to her family’s house in a town I don’t even know of?”

Kassandra’s heart dropped and she considered just telling her to forget it when Kyra grabbed her hand and squeezed it, “I would very much like that.”

Her heart rose back up to its proper position in her chest and she smiled down at her glass of wine. This was it, she would get to spend winter break with the girl she loved even if she had not yet come to the realization that she loved her.


	11. Chapter 11

As finals week came to an end, so did the stress in the air. Many freshmen students took to the local restaurants and hangouts to celebrate the completion of their first semester at college. Taxis, trains, and cars buzzed around the city as students prepared to head back home for the holidays.

Kyra had cleared her holiday plans with her aunt who was very happy Kyra would be taking a vacation with Kassandra, she thought the girl needed a distraction and that seeing her remaining family would only ruin the holiday spirit. Kyra took comfort in knowing that her aunt would not be alone over the break, her aunt’s coworkers agreed to look after her for Kyra. She also gave Thaletas the task of checking in on her occasionally even though he had given her grief about spending an almost full three weeks with Kassandra.

“Kyra, you have got to be the most useless flirt I have ever seen,” he said.

She scowled at him.

“So you mean to tell me that you are going to hang out with this smokin’ hot babe at her parents’ house and you’re _not_ sleeping with each other?”

Kyra smacked him in the arm, telling from his reaction, she had hit hard enough to leave a mark. “Do not objectify her, and this is none of your business.”

“I may have been high as Olympos that night, but I heard rumors about you and your woman,” he said.

She looked at him incredulously, “Oh my god, what rumors, Thaletas? Spill it.”

He regaled her with the rumors some of the partygoers had been spreading about her and Kassandra, that they were seen kissing, that she had dragged Kassandra into the bathroom and emerged several minutes later with tousled hair and swollen lips.

Kyra shook her head, “Great, that’s exactly what I wanted,” she threw her hands up, “Now everyone is going to think terrible things about me.”

Thaletas put a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry, K, I really tried to stop them. But you know how Odessa is, once she spreads something, you can’t fight it.”

Her feelings steeled themself, “That bitch! I knew she was trouble when she told me Kassandra had a promiscuous track record second only to Zeus,” she thrust her fist into her other hand, “When work starts again, I will make it a living hell for her.”

“Calm down tiger,” he forced a smile onto her face with his fingers, “Don’t waste your time, I will make her life miserable for you. No one messes with my best friend and gets away with it.”

She held a genuine smile on her face and thanked him for such loyalty. She bid him farewell and a happy winter break as they went their separate ways.

Kassandra arrived at her doorstep early the next morning to start the long drive to her family’s home. She had instructed Kyra to dress comfortably for the car ride, the Mustang wasn’t the best for road trips. She didn’t mind it though, she looked forward to the idea of spending fifteen hours alone with Kassandra, far far away from any prying eyes.

Her parents lived out in the countryside of southwest Washington, a far cry from the urban setting of southern California. They spent the first part of the drive explaining her family’s “unique” history to her. Kyra quickly learned of horrible things she could’ve never imagined. When she put her hand on Kassandra’s the girl assured her that things were on the road to recovery.

A piece of the equation settled down in Kyra’s mind, she was one step closer to figuring this girl out.

The Mustang cruised down the Pacific Coast Highway and Kyra stared out the window as the scenery passed them by.

“It’s really pretty this time of year,” Kyra said.

“Yeah, but I can think of prettier things.”

They shared another particularly tender moment when she caught her driver glancing over at her, “What are you looking at?”

“You know what I’m looking at, love.”

Kyra fidgeted with the radio controls, a warm feeling started to form in her stomach. Had they really kissed at that party, she thought. While the image of kissing Kassandra made the feeling grow more intense, she was disappointed she did not remember it.

Lost in her thoughts, she asked, “Did I kiss you at the house party that night?”

The car lurched unexpectedly, she saw Kassandra grip the steering wheel a little tighter, “Who told you that? You know what, don’t answer that, we weren’t exactly inconspicuous. Yes, you did kiss me, twice actually.”

Kyra’s memory started to return piece by piece as Kassandra told her about how they had shared a private moment in the bathroom. She felt rather embarrassed that she had tried to make a move on Kassandra that early.

“Can we pretend that didn’t happen? I’m really sorry about that.” Kyra asked.

The girl let out a laugh that calmed Kyra’s nerves, “Don’t be sorry, I never said I didn’t enjoy it.”

 _God damn that smirk will be the death of me_ , Kyra thought. She hoped that their first real kiss would not be their last one; she hoped she would be able to remember the next one too.

The Pacific Ocean tossed and turned under the winter wind. Traffic was light, most other travelers had taken to the major highways; Kyra was grateful Kassandra had chosen the scenic route.

The car pulled off the highway and she killed the engine. Kyra decided not to question her ways, she told the girl to sit still before she walked around the car to open the door for her. Kassandra grabbed her hand and ran across the road with her to a peak that overlooked the vast ocean.

Kyra giggled as the girl told her to close her eyes, she grabbed her hand and led her up the small hill, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see, just trust me.”

In that moment, Kyra could’ve sworn she would have followed that girl to the ends of the world if she asked her to.

The earth beneath her feet was and the wind breezed through her hair. She felt Kassandra stop and she told her she could open her eyes finally.

A panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean unfolded before her. The midday sunlight glinted off the coastal waves and the sound of water crashing upon the rocks filled her ears. It was a beautiful display of nature’s force.

But none of that even compared to the feeling when Kassandra pulled her in for a kiss atop the cliff. The feeling was angelic and the sun’s light did nothing to help the warm glow that spread over her body.

Kassandra pulled away and Kyra hated the absence, “I hope that was okay with you.”

Kyra gazed into those deep brown eyes that caught the sunlight in all the right ways, “It was more than okay.”

Kassandra smiled at her then turned to admire the oceanfront. Kyra did not move her eyes from her figure as she studied not the chiseled edge of the coastline, but the sharp jawline of the girl that sent her heart turning in circles.

The world was a perfect picture and in that moment, she considered it to be their first kiss, a true kiss she would not soon forget.

They stopped to eat at a burger joint that was off the beaten path called the Iceberg. Kyra had lived all her life in the sunshine state, yet had never even heard of this place. Kassandra insisted it had the best milkshakes on this side of the continent.

The inside of the diner looked like it came straight out of the 1960s, Kassandra’s car looked aptly appropriate in the parking lot. They sat down at one of the tables and a kind server came over to grab their orders.

Classic rock music played through the bubble tube jukebox that rested in the corner and this time it was Kassandra’s turn to drink in Kyra’s appearance. Kyra blushed and hid her face behind the menu, though they had just ordered.

When the waitress came back with the milkshakes, Kassandra blew the paper straw wrapper at Kyra in an attempt to get her to lower the menu. She laughed at her and reached across the table to flick her; she saw the waitress grin at them from the corner of her eye.

They sat there in the old diner and fed each other fries and sipped their shakes, enjoying each other’s company.

“You’ve got something right there,” Kassandra leaned across the table and lightly wiped her thumb at a smear of whipped cream on the corner of her mouth.

It was a small gesture, but Kyra melted under her touch nonetheless. The idea of the strict historian’s assistant, who played no favorites with her students, becoming soft and gentle around Kyra and Kyra alone was more than enough to make her heart do a backflip. She had fallen so hard for this girl; like the weight of gravity.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning for this chapter. Myrrine might just get her grandbabies after all.

The sun had set long ago and Kassandra navigated the car through the backwoods of Washington. They had left the freeway almost half an hour ago and the roads were becoming increasingly twisted. She handled the switchbacks with ease, she knew these roads like the back of her hand. She saw the nervous look on Kyra’s face and reassured her that they were not a scary family of lumberjacks waiting to murder her in the dark forest.

Kyra laughed idly at the joke; her fears were put to rest when they rounded the final corner and a magnificent manor came into view. The house was lit up by many lights, but Kassandra told her she would have to wait until the morning to see the house in its full splendor. She said her father built the place from the ground up when he moved to the states.

As the Mustang climbed up the hill, Kassandra saw her mother standing on the deck waiting for her return. She parked the car and barely had time to stand up straight before her mother embraced her in a tight hug.

“I’m glad you made it home to me, lamb,” she said.

Kassandra gave her a proper hug, “I missed you. We have a lot of stories to tell each other, but first,” she let go of her mother and motioned at Kyra, “Mother, this is Kyra. Kyra this is my mother, Myrrine.”

Kyra extended her hand towards Myrrine only for her to wrap her up in a similar tight embrace, “We give hugs in this family. It’s nice to meet you, but please, let’s go inside, we can’t have our guest of honor freeze out in the driveway!”

And just like that, her mother had stolen away her girl and left her to unload the luggage. But it felt good to be home.

Once she had lugged the bags inside the house, she noticed her mother was showing Kyra embarrassing baby pictures of her in the living room, “Mater, could you refrain from showing off my baby pictures to people you have just met.”

“Nonsense dear, you look adorable. I still remember the day you were born,” she tapped Kyra on the shoulder, “she broke my tailbone, that little scoundrel.”

Kassandra promptly exited the room to go drag the luggage into the bedrooms. She wondered where Kyra was going to sleep because Nikolaos had designed the house in mind for himself and Stentor. There was a master bedroom that both of her parents occupied, Stentor’s room, a guest bedroom and office that had been converted into rooms for the siblings once they had returned from Athens, and a man cave that could easily accommodate an air bed. She really hoped that her mother would think nothing of it if they shared one room, she did not want to make Kyra sleep in that god awful man cave that wreaked of old cigars and Hennessy.  

She heard her mother’s footsteps, “How come you haven’t settled into your bedroom yet?”

Kassandra didn’t reply, her mother took Kyra’s duffel bag from her, “I like that Kyra of yours, she’s very friendly!” Myrrine pushed open the door to Kassandra’s room and dropped the bag on her bed, “You won’t be weirded out if you share the room? I don’t want her to sleep in that gaudy ‘man cave’ as your father calls it.”

She smiled at her mother and tried to telepathically communicate that she was very grateful she had solved the dilemma for her, “Thanks, mom.”

Myrrine returned the smile, “Now rest up, Nikolaos will return with the boys tomorrow morning and I am making a big breakfast for everyone.”

She left the room and Kyra walked in shortly after her, “I really like your mother, she’s so welcoming. Oh, she’s not expecting grandbabies from me, is she?”

Kassandra shook her head, “No, don’t worry about her, she tells that to the boys too.”

Kyra observed her bag resting on the bed and pointed at it, “Am I, are we, is this—”

The history TA took her hand, “It’s either this or my dad’s dingy man cave, it’s up to you.”

“I think I’ll take my chances here,” Kyra leaned in and planted a kiss to her lips.

Kassandra was amazed how good it felt now that they had finally stepped over the thin line of friendship into this more intimate space. She still wasn’t sure what to call their relationship, though.

When they parted, Kassandra filled the girl in on the plans for the next morning and tried her best to mentally prepare her to meet the rest of the family. She joked that Stentor’s attitude would pale in comparison to her father. She secretly hoped they would be on their best behavior this holiday break.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table and yawned, she let Kyra have the privacy of the bedroom and opted to change in the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed her face and when she looked at her reflection, she couldn’t help but grin. She was beyond happy that Kyra had taken a leap of faith in joining her for winter break.The feeling of being with her felt like nothing else.

She let out her hair from its signature braid when she saw Kyra’s reflection in the mirror.

Kyra fiddled with a piece of her long hair, “Wow, it’s not fair that you look this good in sleep attire. I’m still surprised you don’t have a special someone, surely half the campus must be hopelessly in love with you.”

Kassandra shrugged, “I guess I don’t notice the attention.”

“How could you not?”

Kassandra intertwined her hand with Kyra’s, “Because I only want your attention.”

“Then you already have it,” Kyra’s voice ran through her ears with a new lust.

And suddenly she pushed Kyra up against the wall of the bathroom and kissed her with fervor. She placed a hand on Kyra’s cheek and used the other one to hold her against the wall. Kyra parted her lips when she felt Kassandra’s thigh rub up against her.

Kassandra loved the taste of her lips and smirked against the girl when she remembered the last time they were in a bathroom together. She wrapped both arms around Kyra and carried her to the bedroom.

She threw the girl down on the bed, swept the luggage out of the way, and crawled on top of her. She placed her lips to Kyra’s neck and made a special note of the places where Kyra moaned more favorably. She tugged at the hem of Kyra’s shirt and took it off her body with ease.

She placed kisses along the girl’s collar and slipped a finger under her bra strap. She looked up at Kyra for a moment, when the girl nodded Kassandra was overcome with a new found excitement to explore every inch of her body. She slipped the bra from her shoulders and cast it aside to be found somewhere in the morning.

Kassandra was speechless for a moment as she drank in the glorious sight of her shirtless body. She cupped a hand around Kyra’s breast.

“Oh god,” Kyra said as she felt her warm mouth come over her other breast.

Kassandra licked circles around her as she moved her other hand to the waistband of her sleep shorts.

Kyra playfully pushed Kassandra off of her for a moment, her eyes danced like fire, “You are wearing entirely too many clothes.”

Kassandra could not have agreed more, they both sat up and Kyra watched with interest as she pulled her shirt over her head. Kyra placed her hand on her abs, “Damn.”

Kassandra discarded her own bra in the small pile of clothing they had started. She watched Kyra’s eyes with interest as they surveyed her half naked form. She wanted to make this a show for her.

She got up from the bed and slowly dragged her shorts down her toned legs and watched as the lustful look grew on Kyra’s face. She could tell she was making the other girl impatient.

Kyra moaned at the sight of Kassandra’s fingers toying with the hem of her panties. She slid them down at an agonizing slow pace. Once she was fully naked, she climbed back on top of Kyra and kissed her passionately.

“You’re going to pay for making me wait,” Kyra breathed.

“I don’t think that’s how the night will go,” she smirked at the girl and tugged her shorts down.

She pressed a soft kiss to Kyra and felt the wetness through her clothing.

Kassandra’s fingers hooked the side of her panties and lowered them ever so slightly. She traced the beautiful curve of her hip with her tongue; all this attention had to be driving the girl mad, just as Kassandra had planned.

“Please, Kassandra,” Kyra begged. She loved the way her name sounded on her lips mixed with a desirous undertone.

She removed her panties in a swift motion and gazed at Kyra, _this girl keeps getting more beautiful_ , she thought.

She trailed kisses down the girl’s leg, away from where Kyra wanted her most. She made her way back up to Kyra’s center and placed a light kiss that ghosted over her, Kyra shivered.

She pressed a finger into the girl’s already wet center. She explored the inside of her and watched as Kyra bit her lip.

She studied Kyra’s face and enjoyed every moment of it, “You’re so wet for me and we haven’t even really started the fun part.”

“That’s because you wanted to have a fucking hot striptease—” she moaned as Kassandra added another finger.

“I don’t see you complaining…” she hummed.

Kassandra started to move her fingers in and out of her cunt, she placed her mouth right above the girl’s hip bone and sucked a sweet mark that would be there for her to remember in the morning. She picked up the pace and felt Kyra tangle a hand in her hair. The way she curled her fingers caused the girl to moan, “Fuck, just use your mouth already.”

Kyra’s impatience turned her on even more and she removed her fingers. She gazed deliberately into Kyra’s dark eyes and sucked her fingers clean; it took everything in Kyra’s power to not touch herself.

Kyra snaked her own hand down in an attempt to relive the moment from just a beat ago, Kassandra grabbed Kyra’s wrist and pinned it against the bed, “Do you touch yourself and think of me?”

The smug look of her face gave it away; the idea of Kyra fingering herself and thinking of Kassandra was enough to set her heart on fire. She was going to give her a taste of the real thing.

Kassandra focused herself again on the girl’s wetness and decided not to take it easy on her this time. She pressed her tongue to her wetness and savored the way she tasted.

Breathy moans escaped from Kyra as one hand gripped her hair and the other one clenched the sheets.

She thrust her tongue inside her and massaged her clit with her fingers. Kyra moved her hips to match Kassandra’s rhythm. She was quickly becoming undone beneath her.

“Fuck, Kassandra, I’ve wanted this since I first met you.”

Kassandra smiled against her cunt and rewarded her by hoisting Kyra’s leg over her shoulder to get a better angle. Her ministrations pushed her close. She felt Kyra tighten around her and she rubbed her sensitive clit in a way that made her release the most lustful moan, it was a sweet melody to her ears. Kyra’s moans became louder as Kassandra pushed her to the edge, she tightened around Kassandra. Kyra bit down on her lip when she came. She rode out her orgasm as Kassandra continued to pleasure her.

Kyra looked down at the girl between her legs, what a sight to behold. Kassandra came up to meet her lips and she tasted herself.

Kassandra felt Kyra’s hands grace her throat as she sucked a mark on her collarbone. She placed a hand in Kassandra’s hair and pulled her away from her body, “It’s your turn now, sit up, I want to hear you moan as you ride my face.”

Kassandra did as she was told, she had to admit, hearing the girl take control like that was incredibly hot. She crawled up the bed and placed her hands on the headboard. Kyra shifted directly underneath her and traced lines with her smooth hands.

She felt the girl move her hands to feel various parts of her body, the muscles of her abs, the small of her back, the sides of her legs; Kyra had an affinity for her toned physique.

The hands stopped exploring her body and Kassandra’s eyes widened when she felt Kyra’s mouth press against her cunt.

“God, you’re wet too,” Kyra mumbled into her.

She licked wide strokes and placed her hands on either side of Kassandra’s ass. Her fingers helped settle Kassandra into a rocking motion against her face. Her taste was intoxicating, she could pleasure her all night if that’s what she wanted.

The headboard shook with their movements and Kassandra was grateful that her room was directly above the kitchen and none of the other rooms in the house.

“Oh, Kyra, you feel so good. More,” Kassandra’s moans filled the room.

The girl beneath her increased her speed and rubbed her clit with her thumb. The sight of Kyra between her legs did nothing but add to the magnificent feeling building inside of her.

Kyra’s tongue worked magic on her and Kassandra’s eyes closed at the sweet contact. She grinded her hips against her face and felt herself coming.

She screamed her name as her wetness covered Kyra but she lapped it up like ichor sent from the gods above.

Kassandra laid down next to her, completely worn out; she pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“I told you I’d make you pay,” Kyra said.

“It was so worth it.”

Kassandra rolled over and pulled the blankets up around them. She pressed up against Kyra’s back and wrapped an arm around her. She placed a kiss to the back of the girl’s neck and closed her eyes.

She thought herself to be the luckiest girl in the world to be able to hold Kyra like this after such an intimate moment. She let the sound of her heartbeat lull her to sleep.

They were in it for the long game.


	13. Chapter 13

Kyra awoke to a familiar scene. She was in a strange bed once again and Kassandra was missing. The events of the night before played through her mind and her face became warm at the thought of their first time. It felt so amazing, it all could have been a dream, one long sexual dream.

Her legs were sore and she touched the love mark on her hip, evidence that she was indeed not dreaming. The door cracked open and she saw Kassandra stick her head through to see if she was still asleep. Kassandra entered the room with two mugs of coffee. She placed one on the nightstand and leaned down to kiss her forehead, “Good morning, love.”

_Love_ , the word echoed through her mind. Is that really what this all was? Kyra feared she loved her too, but what did love ever get her—a traumatic family history and a slap on the back. However, she knew that what she felt for Kassandra was special, this girl made her heart spin in circles. She was willing to play the long game for the girl who dazzled her.

She watched curiously as Kassandra stood by the sliding glass door. In the morning light, she was able to see the room they had spent the night in. It was a big, open room that looked rarely lived in as a temporary place of stay when Kassandra came back from college. The walls were bare except for a mirror and a map of the Greek world, she could never escape history when she was around this girl.

Being on the second story, the room had a balcony that overlooked the vast property, her family must have been sitting on money. The golden light came in through the windows and illuminated Kassandra’s figure as she stood there sipping her coffee.

She was dressed in her white shirt from the other night, it hung low over her chest and Kyra could see the small bruise she had given her.

Kyra got out from under the blankets and recovered her shirt from the floor. She went over to the girl and wrapped her arms around her from behind. She had to stand on her toes to rest her chin on Kassandra’s shoulder. She placed a kiss to her shoulder and spoke softly in her ear, “Good morning. I didn’t think you could look prettier than the way you looked between my legs last night, but yet here you are with the morning light outlining your perfect figure.”

Kassandra turned around to kiss her cheek and Kyra was lost in her warm brown eyes. They were capable of portraying power and dominance, but in this moment, she saw nothing but soft, tender care.

She ran her hand up her bicep until she reached the three prominent lines that seemed to curl around her arm, “Let me guess, you fought a lion in the Colosseum?”

Kassandra smiled against her mug, “Close one, it was a brown bear in Greece.”

Kyra’s face prodded her for more information, she had said it like she was telling her the temperature of the room.

“Remember how I told you I spent several years in Greece searching for my brother? The bastard group that took him had an even crazier division that captured wild animals and trained them to obey them. I don’t know how they did it, but they would train large predators to attack tourist groups and either kill or scare the parents away so the Cartel could take their children and sell them across the world.”

Her heart ached for Kassandra and she did not want to imagine half the other horrible things she had seen.

“They would also hold secret meetings in caves to mask their doings. I sneaked into one to spy on them. They spotted me on the way out and I escaped somewhat successfully,” she flexed her arm and the scar rippled, “A flesh wound never hurt anyone.”

Kyra was so enamored with this girl, every ounce of detail brought a new understanding of her and she wanted to uncover every piece.

Kassandra placed her mug on the dresser and pushed up her sleeve. She took Kyra’s hand and placed it on her shoulder, another line danced under her fingers, “You’re going to laugh at me for this one, it’s not nearly as exciting as the last one.”

A plethora of ideas ran through her mind, knife cut, car accident, another animal; Kyra really had no clue as to what could have caused such a wound.

“It’s a cleaner cut than the bear scar. I was playing darts at a bar—”

Kyra cleared her throat, “You what?”

She grinned at her, “No, it wasn’t from a dart. Some creepy man at the bar was making a group of young girls uncomfortable. I threw a dart at his shoulder to get his attention and he was not happy. I approached him and told him to leave the girls alone, he had a knife in his belt. Thankfully he was pretty buzzed and uncoordinated. But as you can see, he still nicked me.”

“Aren’t you just the most chivalrous little misthios.”

She squeezed her hand, Kyra could tell she had learned to love that nickname, “Yep, Kassandra the knight in shining armor, that’s me.”

She winked and Kyra could feel her falling for her all over again. She rubbed her thumb over the girl’s lip, “Did you try to eat the tin lid of your baby food can when you were a baby?”

Her laughter warmed the air, “What? Who does that?

_An idiot named Thaletas_ , she thought.

“It is from my childhood though, I ran into the corner of a table when I was two. Mother says there was blood everywhere. Do you still think I’m a badass?”

Kyra placed a small kiss to the faint line, “You will always be a badass,” she tugged at the edge of her collar to expose the mark on her chest.

She smiled down at her and played with her hair, “At least I had the decency to do it somewhere less obvious,” she touched Kyra’s hip and chuckled, “You should get ready, my father will return with my brothers soon.”

The smell of breakfast being cooked wafted into her nose and she realized how hungry she was.

They heard Myrrine’s voice yell for Kassandra’s help with the food. She left the bedroom and spotted Kyra staring at her backside. She winked before closing the door behind her.

Kyra gathered her things and got ready in the bathroom. She grabbed her phone and immediately swiped to Thaletas’s contact. She shot him a quick text,

_Kyra: Bitch call me when you get up_

She saw the text bubbles come across her screen a few seconds later,

_Thaletas: Can it wait, I’m about to get new record in Fortnite_

_Kyra: Screw your game!! I got railed by Kassandra_

The bubbles appeared and disappeared twice before her phone rang.

“Shut the fuck up, K. How did that happen? I need details,” his voice was groggy, he was not usually a morning person.

“When did you go to bed?” she said.

“I didn’t… It’s break, I can do what I want, but don’t ignore me! I want to know everything! Okay, maybe not everything, you know what I’m saying.”

She told him about the magical night she had had and spared him some of the more sensual details. Thinking about it made her body ache for Kassandra’s touch again.

She could hear the game’s gunfire on the other end, “Holy shit, Kyra’s got game!” he dragged out the “ay” sound in “game” and gave her a victory cry.

“Now that I’ve told you, don’t you dare tell anyone else. Loose lips sink ships.”

“I would never tell anyone, I’m just going to tell everyone on this server!”

She groaned at him as she heard the controller make a loud sound against the wall, someone must have ended his streak.

“Fucking campers! I hate this game sometimes. People don’t know how to play, you have to be offensive to win a war!”

Kyra let him ramble on about his game, she tried to ignore him when he lost his temper over his video games.

“But for reals, K, I’m happy for you guys. I can’t wait for the wedding. I have to go now, let me know if you get lucky again,” he made an obnoxious kissy noise into his phone and hung up.

She loved that boy even if he was a little dense at times. She allowed her mind to drift off into a world where one day she could go on a double date with Kassandra and whoever Thaletas ends up with. Perhaps he would walk her down the aisle…

She brushed the idea out of her head, it was way too early to be thinking these thoughts, yet she could never stop them from happening.

Kassandra was right, only the daylight could display her family’s house in its full glory. Kyra grabbed the coffee Kassandra had brought her and made her way out of the bedroom. She walked down the hardwood staircase and took in the beautiful house before her. There was a grand fireplace in the middle of the house, high windows that let in the natural light, and a wrap around porch outside.

She watched as Kassandra and her mother worked in tandem to prepare breakfast. Kassandra skillfully diced up cherry tomatoes while Myrrine cracked open several eggs into a skillet.

“Kyra, did you sleep well? I hope my daughter’s snoring didn’t wake you.” Myrrine said.

Kyra suppressed a laugh as she watched Kassandra cut down on a tomato a little too fiercely. Kyra sat down at the kitchen counter, “I slept fine, thank you. I love your house, Myrrine.”

“Thank you dear, my husband built it as his dream home for himself and Stentor, you’ve met my stepson haven’t you? He moved in with his uncle who lives in Orange County for the latter part of high school; something about wanting to get in state tuition. Sounds like a scam if you ask me.”

Kyra nodded, “He’s good friends with my best friend. I also saw him in the library once. He had a can of—”

She paused when she saw Kassandra making a cutting motion across her neck with her knife, “A can of soda! Yeah, soda, he almost spilled it all over his books,” she said.

Kassandra winked at her and focused her attention to the cutting board. Myrrine narrowed her eyes, “So I see. Well tell me all about yourself, Kyra. I want to know all about you before the boys ruin our time alone.”

Kyra sat there and found it easy to open up to Myrrine. She now understood where Kassandra got her air of likeability, both were extremely easy to talk to. She told Myrrine a few details about her own family and how she was grateful to be spending the holiday with a family that had made it through their own struggles.

“Mom, I think you should tell Kyra about the time you left me and Alexios in the grocery store,” Kassandra said.

It was Myrrine’s turn to give someone a curt look. She turned her attention to Kyra, “So tell me, what are you majoring in?”

“I am in the mathematics program.”

“Sounds like a fine area of study,” she turned to her daughter, “you picked well.”

Kassandra’s cheeks grew rosy and she looked away from her mother, “Uh, Kyra is really good at math. She helps me a lot with my own math class.”

Kyra smiled as Kassandra bragged to her mother about her. It felt good to be someone’s priority.

They exchanged more stories with Myrrine until three very tired men walked through the garage door. Kyra recognized Stentor, if he was surprised to see her in his house, he did a good job of hiding it. She observed the other two men that entered the kitchen.

The older man was clearly Nikolaos. He looked a lot older than he did in the portrait in Kassandra’s apartment. Myrrine, on the other hand, had aged nicely. Kyra suspected the smoking and drinking had not done anything in his favor.

She looked over at the tallest boy, Alexios the brother that had been through hell and back. He had brunette hair like Kassandra, but it seemed as if his eyes had a wild spark that could only be seen in the rarest of light. He was very muscular and scars adorned his arms like his sister’s. Except these ones looked much more menacing than hers. These ones looked cold and calculated, the result of a much darker situation. Kyra felt bad for him, but he held himself with confidence. He was safe now and he was rebuilding his life.

Myrrine hugged each of the men and gave her sons a kiss on the cheek to which Stentor objected.

Kassandra slapped Stentor on the back and gave Alexios a big hug. Kyra’s heart melted at their affection, she was finding new reasons to fall for this girl every single day.

She introduced Kyra to the rest of her family as simply a “friend.” If Kyra was being honest with herself, this introduction made her sad to an extent. Although, she knew that the right time would come if they were truly meant to progress in their weird flirtationship, so to speak.

The boys unpacked their luggage and Myrrine summoned them back to the kitchen for breakfast. She and Kassandra had prepared a Greek breakfast, kagianas—scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes and feta. Myrrine had also thrown some cinnamon rolls in the oven because she had grown a soft spot for American breakfast foods.

They sat around the dining table and the boys recounted them with the hassle of Seattle traffic. Kyra learned many things about the family in one sitting. Though Stentor and Alexios were the same age, Alexios chose not to go to college. Instead, he had moved up to Seattle to work for a human trafficking support organization. He also taught self defense classes in the hopes that no one would have to go through what he did. From what Kyra could tell, he was dealing with his past in a very healthy, positive way. She wondered if Kassandra was doing the same.

She also learned that Kassandra did not inherit her driving skills from Nikolaos. He had driven up to Seattle to pick up Alexios and Stentor. (It was cheaper for Stentor to catch a flight to Seattle from California than it was for him to fly straight to the nearest airport in Portland.) Apparently Nikolaos had gotten a little too excited with his hand gestures and almost got in a wreck coming down the freeway. Kassandra was definitely not her father’s daughter.

Though a little odd, she loved being with this family, being with a family. It was such a different atmosphere than what she was used to, but she could tell that they loved each other with all their hearts and that was all she ever wanted. Perhaps someday she would be able have a family like this of her own.

The day passed on quickly as Kyra talked with Myrrine and Nikolaos for most of the day. They were very welcoming and told her that if she needed anything, she could just ask. They were curious about her own life and family and it felt good to be able to express her frustrations to actual parents.

Later in the night Kyra was alone with Kassandra in the living room. They were cuddled up on the couch watching a Christmas movie. During a dull moment in the movie, Kassandra got up to go get her book bag from upstairs. Moments later she came back and opened up her laptop. Her inbox was flooded with history students asking her about their final grades.

“You can never escape work can you?” Kyra said.

“Seems not, these students are freaking out about the final,” she sighed, “They wouldn’t be so worried if they had bothered to study, but that’s none of my business.”

Kyra laughed and moved her laptop to the coffee table. She pressed a gentle kiss to Kassandra’s lips and felt a familiar warm feeling rise in her chest. She pulled away and looked into her deep brown eyes, “What are we?”

Kassandra held her gaze, “I don’t quite know, you tell me.”

Kyra pulled her closer by the collar of her shirt and kissed her again, “I know that I want this.”

Kassandra nodded her head, “Me too.”

She spent the rest of the night laying in the firm embrace of Kassandra’s arms as they watched the movie. When it ended, she heard a faint noise escape the girl’s lips. She turned her cheek, “What did you say?”

Kassandra cleared her throat, “Kyra, you make me so happy and you challenge me to be a better person everyday. This is something I should’ve asked you the day I met you at your coffee shop,” she stroked Kyra’s face, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Kyra’s heart leapt at the question and she did everything she could to not release the biggest grin. She failed. Her smile gave it all away as she happily said yes.

She kissed her again and again and again in between joyful giggles and playful grabs.

 

* * *

 

As Christmas approached, the need for finding presents increased. Myrrine had told the kids that they could take the family SUV to go shopping down in Portland under the condition that Kassandra drove, she did not trust the boys with motor vehicles.

They kids loaded into the car and Kassandra forced her brother to sit in the back so Kyra could sit up front with her.

Alexios and a begrudging Stentor sat in the back; Stentor requested to listen to his music since he had been forced to give up the front seat. Kassandra indulged him and threw the AUX cord at him. Stentor scrolled through his songs until he found the perfect one to start off a shopping spree.

A certain wave of nostalgia hit Kyra when “Nine in the Afternoon” came on over the car speakers. She and Thaletas had gone through the quintessential punk stage in middle school and it seemed that Stentor had as well.

She tried to restrain herself from looking like a complete fool in front of Kassandra, but the music and catchy lyrics won out as she belted out the chorus with Stentor.

Though Kassandra was familiar with her little brother’s music taste, she was never fond of it until she experienced Kyra jamming out to it in the front seat. Kyra became a flurry of air guitar, drum sticks, and hair whipping. She could’ve been a one man band and Kassandra loved every minute of it.

The car cruised down the highway and they passed over the Columbia River into Oregon. The traffic near downtown was horrid as usual. The only thing keeping them alive was Stentor’s music. Kyra nearly screamed when he played “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”

“I haven’t heard this in forever!” she exclaimed.

Alexios piped up from the back seat, “Is this that one song about slamming the door?”

No one answered him, they were too busy singing. Even Kassandra knew this one.

Stentor proudly sang the first verse from the backseat and pointed at Kassandra when it was time for the iconic line, “What a shame the poor groomsbride is a—”

“Whore.” Kassandra said, it gave Kyra momentary chills before they three of them belted out the chorus.

When they arrived at the mall, Alexios and Stentor immediately left the girls in favor of the sporting goods store. Kyra watched as they made a beeline through the crowd, she was secretly grateful though, she loved spending time alone with Kassandra.

Though they were there to find Christmas gifts, Kassandra dragged her into a clothing store because she was in desperate need of new formal attire. Kyra thought the logic of buying things for yourself before Christmas was a little strange, but she learned not to care when she saw what Kassandra was going to try on—a full black suit and tie.

She walked into the changing room with her and helped her try the outfit on. She carefully buttoned up the white shirt and took extra time to admire Kassandra’s collarbones. Kassandra put the jacket on as Kyra tied the tie around her neck.

She stepped back to let Kassandra look at herself in the mirror, “What do you think?”

Kyra smirked at her in the mirror, “You look absolutely stunning, you’re lucky we are in a store right now, I’d have that thing off you in seconds otherwise.”

Kassandra winked at her by way of the mirror.

Shortly after, they found Alexios and Stentor gazing at the newest video game console at a kiosk in the center of the mall. When Alexios moved to grab his wallet, Kassandra dragged him away from the sales clerk by the back of his jacket. Kyra tried to suppress a laugh when Kassandra gave her a “I’m sorry you had to see that” look.

“We are here for the rest of the family, not ourselves,” Kassandra said flatly.

The boys looked at her in disdain until they decided upon the perfect gift for Myrrine and rushed off towards the kitchen goods store. Though it felt a bit like babysitting, Kyra quickly grew fond of Kassandra’s siblings.

Kassandra opened the passenger’s door for Kyra as they all piled back into the family car. The boys were quite happy with the loot they had acquired for mother and father. The three of them had decided to split the cost to buy Myrrine a brand new mixer for the kitchen in a deep red color. She had been eyeing it for months and dropping hints every minute of the day. For Nikolaos, they had bought an espresso machine and enough coffee to rival the inventory at Kyra’s work.

Kyra heard a loud rumble from behind her followed by Stentor’s voice, “Hey dipshit driver, are you going to feed us before we pass out from starvation?”

She then heard an audible smack and looked back just in time to catch Alexios shoving one of the shopping receipts into his mouth, “Eat this.”

Kassandra rolled her eyes as she redirected the car to a nearby fast food joint.

Stentor did an awkward speed walk to the door and Kyra watched as Alexios and Kassandra laughed at their brother.

The group sat down in a booth with their food, Alexios had ordered enough burgers to feed an army it seemed. He unwrapped the first one and stared at Kyra like a hawk. She tried to break eye contact but it wasn’t working.

“Can I help you, Alexios?” she said.

When he didn’t reply Kassandra snapped her fingers at him. It jolted him out of his void state, “Uh sorry about that. I was just trying to figure out how my useless gay sister snagged someone like you.”

“Thank you, I think?” she was unsure of what to say.

Kassandra scoffed at him, “Don’t mind him, he’s just jealous that he doesn’t have a hot girlfriend.”

“I do not! I’ll have you know that Neema is a very nice girl.”

Stentor just about choked on his drink, “Since when did you cop a babe without telling me?”

Kyra sat there as the family gossip unfolded. Alexios had recently started dating a girl named Neema who was enrolled in one of his self defense classes. He remarked how she didn’t seem to need them, she was capable of taking care of herself. She lived in Seattle with her father Darius, she also had a brother who was going to Kassandra and Stentor’s rival school.

“Yeah she’s really great and she has a cute brother,” Alexios winked.

Kassandra crossed her arms and tilted her head at Kyra.

“Oh god, not you! I was talking to Stentor.”

“Yeah I don’t think pater would like me going out with someone from the enemy school,” Stentor said, “When were you going to break the news to mom and dad?

Alexios shrugged, “If they ask I will tell them.”

On the car ride home, Kyra wondered if or when Kassandra would break the news to her parents. They were in no rush to declare their new relationship status to the world, but Kyra would like to hear it out loud eventually.

Nonetheless, she was willing to play it by ear as long as it meant spending time with her girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient, my own college schedule has been hectic. There's only one chapter this time, but it's longer than normal <3


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